X 


MINNESOTA 

=  IN  = 

THREE  CENTURIES 

1655  —  1908 

BOARD  OF  EDITORS 

LUCIUS  F.  HUBBARD  JAMES  H.  BAKER 

WILLIAM  P.  MURRAY  WARREN  UPHAM 

Volume  One 

Description  and  Explorations 

By  WARREN  UPHAM,  A.  M.,  D.  Sc., 

Assistant  from  1874  to  1895  on  the  Geological  Surveys  of 

New  Hampshire,  Minnesota,  and  the  United  States; 

since  November  1,  1895,  Secretary  and 

Librarian  of  the  Minnesota 

Historical  Society. 

Semi-  Centennial  Edition 


The  Publishing  Society  of  Minnesota 


1908 


.l 


MINNESOTA,  1655  - 1908 


Printed  at'Mankato,  Minnesota 
by  the  FREE  PKKSS  PRINTING  COMPANY 

for  the 
Publishing  Society  of  Minnesota 


Copyright.  1908,  by  FRANK  R.  HOLMES 

All  Rights  Reterved 


PUBLICATION  OFFICE 
218  WILLIAM  STREET 
NEW  YORK,  N.  Y.,  II.  P.  A. 


PREFACE 

At  the  beginning  of  this  History  of  Minnesota,  a  descrip- 
tion of  the  State  is  presented  in  four  chapters,  treating  of  its 
geographic  and  geologic  features,  its  climate,  and  the  flora  and 
fauna.  Another  chapter  treats  of  the  Indians  who  occupied  this 
region  before  the  first  coming  of  white  men,  and  who  after- 
ward continued  as  its  principal  inhabitants  during  nearly  two 
hundred  years,  until  the  period  of  white  agricultural  settlements. 

The  explorations  of  the  area  of  Minnesota,  which  are  the 
main  theme  of  this  first  volume,  were  begun,  in  1655  and  1660 
by  the  two  western  expeditions  of  Groseilliers  and  Eadisson. 
Through  more  than  a  century  the  French  pioneers  of  the  fur 
trade  and  of  missions  were  the  makers  and  writers  of  our 
history.  After  the  cession  of  New  France  in  1763  to  Great 
Britain  and  Spain,  the  history  was  continued  by  English-speaking 
explorers  and  fur  traders,  United  States  government  expeditions, 
and  the  national  and  state  geological  surveys. 

Throughout  this  work  the  extensive  Library  of  the  Minne- 
sota Historical  Society  has  been  constantly  used  by  the  present 
writer,  as  also  by  the  other  authors  and  editors  of  the  three 
ensuing  volumes,  which  narrate  the  history  and  development  of 
Minnesota  from  the  time  of  the  building  of  Fort  Snelling. 

WAEKEN  UPHAM. 


1351075 


SYNOPSIS  OF  CHAPTERS 


CHAPTER  I. 

Geographic  Features  33-  40 

Area — Altitude — General  Contour  —  Lakes  and 
Streams. 

CHAPTER  II. 

Geologic     History 41-  56 

The  Archaean  Era — Paleozoic  Time — Mesozoic  Time 
— Cenozoic  Time — The  Ice  Age — Glacial  Lake  Agas- 
siz — Geologic  Time  Ratios. 

CHAPTER  III. 

Climate 57-  63 

Temperature — Rainfall  and  Snowfall — Fluctuations 
of  Lakes  and  Streams — Air  Currents. 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Flora    and    Fauna 65-  78 

Forest  Trees  and  Shrubs — Limitation  of  the  Forest 
— Prairie  Grasses  and  Flowers — The  State  Flower — 
Game  and  Fur-bearing  Animals — The  Gophers  and 
the  State  Sobriquet — State  Publications. 

CHAPTER  V. 

The    Red    Men 79-126 

Origin  and  Antiquity  of  the  Red  Race — Primitive 
Man  in  the  Ice  Age  at  Little  Falls — The  Mounds 

IX 


and  their  Builders — Tribes  formerly  in  Minnesota — 
Hurons — Ottawas — Winnebagoes — Ojibways  --  Sioux 
— Crees — Agriculture  of  the  Indians — Names  of  In- 
dian Derivation. 

CHAPTER  VI. 

Groseilliers    and    Kadisson,    the    First    White    Men     in 

Minnesota     127-203 

Publication  of  Radisson's  Manuscripts — Biographic 
Sketches  of  Groseilliers  and  Radisson — Peculiarities 
of  Radisson's  Writings — Agreement  and  Discrepancy 
with  other  Records — Chronology  of  the  Four  Kx- 
peditions — Narrative  of  the  First  Western  Expedi- 
tion—The Year  1C55-56  at  Prairie  Island— Public 
Council  in  the  Early  Summer  of  165G — The  Return 
to  Quebec — Account  in  the  Jesuit  Relation  of  1055- 
56 — Radisson's  Excursions  in  the  Summer  of  1  <>.">.") — 
Narrative  of  the  Second  Western  Expedition — Fort 
at  Chequamegon  Bay — Starvation  in  Winter — Deal- 
ings with  the  Sioux  and  the  Crees — Fictitious  Joiir- 
ney  to  Hudson  Bay — The  Return  to  Montreal  and 
Three  Rivers — Accounts  in  Jesuit  Relation  and  Jour- 
nal— Services  of  Groseilliers  and  Radisson  for  the 
Hudson  Bay  Company — To  whom  belongs  the  Honor 
of  Discovery  of  the  Upper  Mississippi  River  and 
Minnesota  ? 

CHAPTER  VII. 

Du    Luth    and    Hennepin 205-241 

Explorations  of  Du  Luth  in  Minnesota — Explora- 
tions of  the  Mississippi  by  Joliet  and  Marquette 
and  by  La  Salle — Biographic  Sketch  of  Hennepin 
— Travels  of  Hennepin  on  the  Upper  Mississippi — 
Comparison  of  Narrations  by  Du  Luth,  Hennepin, 


and  La  Salle — Hennepin's  Route  northward  from 
St.  Paul — False  Claim  of  Exploring  the  Lower  Mis- 
sissippi— Lahontan  and  his  fictitious  Long  River. 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

Perrot   and   Le    Sueur 243-265 

Biographic  Sketch  of  Perrot — Writings  of  Perrot — 
Proclamation  at  Fort  St.  Antoine  in  1689 — Biogra- 
phic Sketch  of  Le  Sueur — Narrations  of  Le  Sueur 
and  Penicaut — Voyage  above  the  Falls  of  St.  An- 
thony— Trading  Post  on  Prairie  Island — Le  Sueur's 
Mining  Expedition — Sites  of  Fort  L'Huillier  and 
Le  Sueur's  Mine. 

CHAPTER    IX. 

Verendrye  and  his    Sons 267-278 

Maps  by  Hennepin,  Franquelin,  and  Delisle — Sketch 
Map  drawn  for  Verendrye  by  Ochagach — Journals 
of  Expeditions  of  Verendrye  and  His  Sons — Trad- 
ing Posts  established  northwest  of  Lake  Superior — 
Massacre  at  the  Lake  of  the  Woods — Discovery  of 
the  Rocky  Mountains — the  Search  for  the  Western 
Sea — Earliest  Maps  based  partly  on  the  Work  of 
the  Verendryes — Suggestion  for  Memorial  Name. 

CHAPTER  X. 

Jonathan     Carver 279-293 

Fall  of  New  France — Biographic  Sketch  of  Carver — 
Publication  of  Carver's  Travels— Winter  of  1766-67 
with  the  Sioux — Council  and  Deed  of  Land  to  Car- 
ver— Grand  Portage,  the  Oldest  Town  in  Minnesota 
— Carver's  Maps — The  Sioux  Deed  annulled  by  Con- 
gress. 

XI 


CHAPTER   XI. 

Mackenzie,   The  Henrys,  and   Thompson 295-313 

The  Elder  Henry  —  Sir  Alexander  Mackenzie  — 
Thompson's  Geographic  Work — The  Younger  Henry 
— Canoe  Route  from  Grand  Portage  to  the  Lake  of 
the  Woods — Narrative  by  Joseph  La  France,  1740- 
42 — Journey  of  the  Elder  Henry,  1775 — Mackenzie's 
Description  of  this  Route — Adoption  of  the  Canoe 
Route  as  the  International  Boundary. 

CHAPTER  XII. 

William    Morrison   at   Lake    Itasca,    and    Other    Traders 

whose  Names  are  borne  by  Minnesota  Counties 315-327 

The  Morrison  Brothers — Other  Traders  honored  by 
County  Names  —  William  A.  Aitkin  —  Joseph  R. 
Brown — Jean  B.  Faribault — Norman  W.  Kittson — 
Martin  McLeod — David  Olmsted — Joseph  Renville — 
Henry  M.  Rice — Henry  H.  Sibley — Magnitude  of 
the  Early  Fur  Trade — Later  Fur  Companies. 

CHAPTER   XIII. 

Zebulon    M.    Pike 329-346 

The  Northwest  Territory— The  Ordinance  of  1787— 
The  Louisiana  Purchase — Life  and  Military  Ser- 
vices of  Pike — Notes  of  Pike's  Journal  in  Min- 
nesota. 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

Cass    and    Schoolcraft 347-356 

The  War  of  1812 — General  Lewis  Cass — Henry  Rowe 
Schoolcraft— Expedition  to  Cass  Lake,  1820— Ex- 
pedition to  Lake  Itasca,  1832. 

XII 


CHAPTER   XV. 

Long,    Keating,    and    Beltrami 357-375 

Major  Stephen  H.  Long — Prof.  William  H.  Keating 
— Costantino  Beltrami — Journey  of  Long  to  the 
Falls  of  St.  Anthony,  1817— Expedition  to  Lake 
Winnipeg,  1823 — Journey  of  Beltrami  to  Eed  Lake 
and  on  the  Upper  Mississippi. 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

Later    Explorations     377-390 

Featherstonhaugh  and  Mather — Albert  Lea — George 
Catlin — Joseph  Nicolas  Mcollet — Geological  Surveys 
— The  Mississippi  River  Commission — Completion  of 
Explorations  in  Three  Centuries. 


XIII 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

Jesuit  Map  of  Lake  Superior,   1670-71 Frontispiece 

Indian  Clay  Vessel  and  War  Implements Facing  p.     80 

Portion  of  Map  by  J.  B.  Franquelin,  1688 Facing  p.  128 

Father  Hennepin's  Map  of  the  Upper  Lakes,  1697. Facing  p.  206 
Joliet  and  Marquette  discover  the  Mississippi ....  Facing  p.  212 

Section  of  Chart  by  William  Delisle Facing  p.  268 

Jonathan    Carver    Facing  p.  280 

Alexander    Mackenzie    Facing  p.  296 

Zebulon  M.   Pike Facing  p.  330 

Lewis   Cass Facing  p.  348 

Henry    E.    Schoolcraft Facing  p.  350 

Stephen    H.     Long Facing  p.  358 

J.    Constantino    Beltrami Facing  p.  372 

G-eorge    Catlin    Facing  p.  378 

Joseph    Nicolas    ISTicollet Facing  p.  382 

Nicollet's  Map  of  the  Upper  Mississippi  Region.  .Facing  p.  384 


Chapter  I. 
GEOGRAPHIC  FEATURES. 

AKEA. 

MINNESOTA  comprises  84,286.53  square  miles,  or  53,- 
943,379  acres,  as  measured  on  the  plats  of  the  United 
States  land  surveys,  in  the  office  of  the  state  auditor. 
About  one  fifteenth  of  this  area  is  occupied  by  the  abundant 
lakes  and  rivers,  covering  5,637.53  square  miles,  or  3,608,012 
acres;  but  no  part  of  Lake  Superior,  adjoining  the  state  on  the 
northeast,  is  included.  The  measurement  was  done  by  H.  H. 
Young,  secretary  of  the  State  Board  of  Immigration,  and  was 
published  by  Prof.  N.  H.  Winchell  in  the  first  volume  of  the 
final  reports  of  the  Minnesota  Geological  Survey,  giving  also  the 
areas  of  land  and  water  in  all  the  eighty  counties  as  they  were  in 
1884. 

Prof.  C.  W.  Hall,  in  his  admirable  text-book,  Geography  of 
Minnesota,  published  in  1903,  remarks  that  the  land  area  of 
this  state,  50,335,367  acres,  would  make  314,596  farms  contain- 
ing 160  acres  each. 

The  length  of  the  state  from  north  to  south  is  380  miles, 
excepting  the  small  tract  west  of  the  Lake  of  the  Woods  and 
north  of  the  49th  parallel.  Its  greatest  width,  near  its  northern 
boundary,  measured  from  Pigeon  Point  on  Lake  Superior  west 
to  the  Eed  river,  is  346  miles;  and  its  least  width,  from  the 
mouth  of  the  St.  Croix  river  west  to  the  boundary  between  Min- 
nesota and  South  Dakota,  is  178  miles. 

i.-i  33 


34  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 

ALTITUDE. 

The  average  altitude  of  Minnesota  above  the  level  of  the  sea 
is  stated  by  Hall  as  about  1,200  feet,  half  of  the  area  being  above 
and  half  below  that  height. 

If  we  consider  the  form  of  the  entire  continent  of  North 
America,  it  is  seen  to  include  on  the  east  and  west  two  mountain- 
ous regions,  or  belts,  and  between  them  a  comparatively  flat  and 
low  expanse.  Near  the  middle  of  the  vast  interior  expanse  lies 
the  state  of  Minnesota.  The  eastern  mountainous  tract  stretches 
from  Labrador  southwestward  to  Alabama,  culminating  in  the 
Laurentide  highlands  and  mountains  north  of  the  River  St.  Law- 
rence, the  White  mountains  and  the  Adirondacks,  the  Green 
mountains  and  the  Catskills,  and  the  parallel  Appalachian  ranges 
farther  southwest.  The  summits  of  this  mountain  belt  vary  in 
elevation  from  a  half  mile  to  one  mile,  and  slightly  more,  above 
the  sea.  On  the  west  a  longer  and  wider  region  of  mountains, 
including  generally  three  or  four  lofty  parallel  ranges,  extends 
from  the  northern  and  southern  coasts  of  Alaska  southeasterly 
through  the  Canadian  Northwest  Territory,  British  Columbia, 
the  western  third  of  the  United  States,  Mexico,  and  Central 
America,  to  the  Isthmus  of  Panama;  and  beyond  this  it  con- 
tinues south  in  the  great  Andes  range  along  the  entire  western 
coast  of  South  America  to  Cape  Horn.  In  the  United  States 
this  Cordilleran  mountain  belt  includes  the  Rocky  mountains  and 
the  Sierra  Nevada  and  Coast  ranges,  and  its  highest  summits 
are  nearly  three  miles  above  the  sea  level. 

Minnesota,  situated  on  the  central  low  expanse  between  these 
mountainous  regions,  and  at  the  geographical  center  of  the  con- 
tinent, has  an  average  or  mean  altitude,  as  before  noted,  of  about 
120  feet  less  than  a  quarter  of  a  mile.  Its  lowest  land  is  the 
shore  of  Lake  Superior,  602  feet  above  the  mean  tide  sea  level, 
with  yearly  fluctuations  of  one  or  two  feet  above  and  below  that 
mean  level  of  the  lake.  Its  highest  elevations  are  found  along 
the  Mesabi  range  and  the  Giant's  range,  culminating  at  the  tops 
of  the  Misquah  hills,,  in  the  vicinity  of  Winchell  lake,  near  the 


GEOGE.APHIC  FEATURES.  35 

center  of  Cook  county  and  forty-five  to  fifty  miles  west  of  Pigeon 
Point,  which  rise  about  1,630  feet  above  Lake  Superior,  or  2,230 
feet  above  the  sea. 

GENEKAL  CONTOUR. 

The  topographic  features  of  Minnesota  may  be  briefly  sum- 
med up  for  its  western  three-quarters  as  being  a  moderately 
undulating,  sometimes  nearly  flat,  but  occasionally  hilly  area, 
gradually  descending  from  the  Coteau  des  Prairies  and  from  the 
Leaf  hills,  respectively  about  2,000  and  1,700  feet  above  the  sea, 
to  half  that  height,  or  from  1,000  to  800  feet,  in  the  long,  flat 
basin  of  the  Eed  river  valley,  and  to  the  same  height  along  the 
valley  of  the  Mississippi  from  St.  Cloud  to  Minneapolis. 

Exceptions  to  the  prevailingly  undulating  or  rolling  and 
rarely  hilly  contour  are  the  southeast  part  of  the  state,  where  the 
Mississippi  river  and  its  tributaries  are  inclosed  by  bluffs  from 
200  to  600  feet  high,  and  the  northwest  coast  of  Lake  Superior 
and  the  part  of  the  state  lying  north  of  this  lake  and  east  of  Ver- 
milion lake.  A  very  bold  rocky  highland  rises  400  to  800  feet 
above  Lake  Superior  within  one  to  five  miles  back  from  its 
shore  along  all  the  distance  of  150  miles  from  Duluth  to  Pigeon 
Point,  the  most  eastern  extremity  of  Minnesota;  while  farther 
north  are  many  hill  ranges,  seldom  worthy  to  be  called  moun- 
tains, 200  to  800  feet  higher,  mostly  trending  from  northeast 
to  southwest,  or  from  east  to  west. 

The  best  way  to  display  on  a  map  the  altitude  and  general 
configuration  of  any  land  surface,  whether  flat,  undulating,  or 
mountainous,  is  by  contour  lines,  drawn  at  equal  vertical  inter- 
vals, as  20  feet,  50  feet,  or  100  feet.  On  the  map  sheets  of  the 
United  States,  now  being  prepared  under  the  direction  of  the 
national  geological  survey,  lines  of  contour  are  mostly  drawn  to 
show  each  successive  20  feet  of  ascent  or  descent.  Where  the 
slope  is  steep,  as  on  bluffs  of  river  valleys  and  on  mountain  sides, 
the  lines  are  brought  very  near  together  or  are  almost  merged, 
even  on  the  large  scale  maps  of  one  or  two  miles  to  the  inch 
which  are  drafted  from  these  surveys.  But  on  a  nearly  level  or 


36  MINNESOTA   IN   THREE    CENTURIES. 

moderately  inclined  area  the  contour  lines  are  widely  separated. 
For  the  maps  published  in  the  final  reports  of  the  Minnesota 
Geological  Survey,  mostly  varying  in  scale  from  five  to  ten 
miles  to  an  inch,  these  contour  lines  are  drawn  for  each  50  feet 
of  height  or  vertical  change  of  level.  They  may  be  best  under- 
stood as  the  successive  shore  lines  which  water,  as  of  the  ocean, 
would  take  if  it  were  gradually  to  rise  and  cover  the  areas  from 
one  50-feet  level  to  another  until  all  the  state  were  submerged. 

As  illustrations  of  the  significance  of  contour  lines,  showing 
how  they  afford  means  of  learning  the  altitude  of  all  parts  of 
the  state  above  the  sea,  and  the  difference  in  height  of  any  two 
localities,  let  us  briefly  note  the  course  of  the  lines  in  Minnesota 
at  the  heights  of  1,000  and  1,500  feet. 

The  1,000  feet  line  enters  the  southeastern  part  of  the  state 
along  the  bluffs  of  the  Mississippi  valley;  it  follows  up  the  val- 
lejs  of  the  Root  and  Zumbro  rivers  to  Preston  and  Rochester; 
along  the  southern  part  of  the  Minnesota  river  basin  it  runs  to 
Big  Stone  lake,  which  is  962  feet  above  the  sea;  and  thence  it 
passes  into  South  Dakota.  Another  contour  line  of  1,000  feet 
enters  the  state  close  to  the  northwest  side  of  the  St.  Croix  river, 
in  Pine  County,  and  passes  in  a  very  meandering  course  westerly 
to  Sauk  Rapids  and  St.  Cloud;  thence  it  runs  in  an  irregular 
southerly  direction  across  90  miles  of  latitude  to  the  north  side 
of  Swan  lake,  in  Nicollet  county;  next  it  runs  northwesterly, 
only  a  few  miles  northeast  of  the  Minnesota  river  and  parallel 
with  it,  to  the  eastern  bluffs  of  Big  Stone  and  Traverse  lakes; 
and  thence  it  extends  nearly  due  north  along  the  east  side  of 
the  Red  river  valley  for  more  than  200  miles  to  the  international 
boundary,  passing  into  Manitoba.  These  lines  divide  the  por- 
tions of  Minnesota  below  1,000  feet  from  the  portions  higher, 
except  that  another  1,000  feet  contour  line  skirts  the  high  coast 
of  Lake  Superior. 

Going  up  500  feet  above  these  lines  to  those  at  1,500  feet 
above  the  sea,  we  find  large  areas  inclosed  by  the  latter  in  north- 
eastern Minnesota,  from  the  Pigeon  river  west  to  the  sources  of 
Swan  and  Prairie  rivers,  tributary  to  the  upper  Mississippi. 
Another  tract  above  1.500  feet  embraces  a  good  share  of  Hub- 


GEOGRAPHIC  FEATURES.  37 

bard  and  Becker  counties  and  of  the  southwestern  part  of  Bel- 
trami  county,  including  the  highest  sources  of  the  Mississippi, 
Crow  Wing,  Otter  Tail,  and  Wild  Rice  rivers.  The  Leaf  hills 
are  a  smaller  tract  above  this  level  in  the  southern  part  of  Otter 
Tail  county.  But  again  in  southwestern  Minnesota  a  large  dis- 
trict above  the  1,500  feet  contour  line  comprises  Pipestone  county 
and  the  greater  parts  of  Lincoln,  Murray,  Nobles,  and  Rock 
counties,  along  the  belt  named  by  the  French  voyageurs  and  ex- 
plorers the  Coteau  des  Prairies,  meaning,  in  English,  the  High- 
land of  the  Prairies. 

LAKES  AND  STREAMS. 

The  upper  Mississippi  river  drains  an  area  of  about  47,000 
square  miles  in  Minnesota,  or  more  than  half  of  this  state. 

In  its  southwest  corner  about  1,500  square  miles  send  their 
drainage  by  the  Big  Sioux  and  Little  Sioux  rivers  to  the  Mis- 
souri, being  thus  tributary  to  the  lower  Mississippi. 

In  the  northeastern  part  of  Minnesota  the  St.  Louis  river 
and  smaller  streams  flowing  into  Lake  Superior,  and  so  tributary 
to  the  St.  Lawrence  river,  drain  an  area  of  about  7,700  square 
miles. 

Last,  in  northern  and  northwestern  Minnesota,  the  basin  of 
the  Rainy  river  comprises  about  9,700  square  miles,  and  that  of 
the  Red  river  about  18,300  square  miles,  making  together  28,000 
square  miles  in  this  state  tributary  to  Lake  Winnipeg  and 
through  the  Nelson  river  to  Hudson  bay. 

The  great  Lake  Superior,  and  Rainy  lake  and  the  Lake  of 
the  Woods  on  our  northern  boundary,  belong  partly  to  Minnesota. 
Included  entirely  within  our  area,  Red  lake,  the  largest  lying  in 
any  single  state  of  the  Union,  has  an  extent  of  about  440  square 
miles,  or  somewhat  more  than  several  of  our  smaller  counties. 
Next  in  size,  among  the  myriad  lakes  in  this  state,  are  Mille 
Lacs,  having  an  area  of  almost  exactly  200  square  miles,  and 
Leech  lake  and  Lake  Winnebagoshish,  each  almost  as  large. 

It  is  estimated  that,  in  total,  Minnesota  contains  10,000 
lakes  and  lakelets.  Most  of  them  lie  in  hollows  of  the  glacial 


38  MINNESOTA   IN   THREE    CENTURIES. 

and  modified  drift;  and  they  are  absent,  or  very  infrequent,  out- 
side the  drift  moraines,  in  the  southeast  and  southwest  corners 
of  the  state.  In  its  northeast  part,  north  of  Lake  Superior, 
where  the  drift  on  some  extensive  areas  was  deposited  only  in 
scanty  amount,  many  of  the  lakes  occupy  rock  basins. 

Lake  Itasca,  the  head  of  the  Mississippi,  is  about  1,460  feet 
above  the  sea.  This  river,  in  its  ordinary  stage  of  water,  at 
Brainerd,  is  1,150  feet  above  the  sea  level;  at  St.  Cloud,  975 
feet;  at  Minneapolis,  above  St.  Anthony's  falls,  800  feet;  a  mile 
below  the  falls,  720  feet;  at  Fort  Snelling,  690  feet;  at  St.  Paul, 
685  feet;  in  Lake  Pepin,  664  feet;  at  Winona,  640  feet;  and  at 
the  southeast  corner  of  this  state,  620  feet. 

Minnesota,  like  all  the  other  states  adjoining  the  Mississippi, 
excepting  Louisiana,  receives  its  name  from  a  large  river.  As 
in  Wisconsin  and  Illinois,  the  Minnesota  is  the  largest  river  ly- 
ing wholly  or  mostly  in  the  state  named  for  it.  Only  its  head 
streams  and  sources  above  Big  Stone  lake  are  outside  of  Minne- 
sota, being  in  the  northeast  corner  of  South  Dakota.  This  Sioux 
name  Minnesota  means  whitish  water,  or,  as  may  be  said  poeti- 
cally, "sky-tinted  water,"  in  allusion  to  the  whitishly  turbid  color 
of  the  river  in  stages  of  flood.  It  has  a  length  of  about  300 
miles,  and  its  basin  measures  a  little  over  16,000  square  miles. 
From  Big  Stone  lake,  through  which  this  river  flows  on  the  west 
line  of  Minnesota,  it  has  a  descent  of  272  feet  to  its  mouth  at 
Fort  Snelling,  where  its  junction  with  the  Mississippi  at  the  or- 
dinary stage  of  low  water  is  690  feet  above  the  sea. 

All  the  creeks  and  rivers  of  this  state,  meandering  through 
its  northern  woods,  and  traversing  its  great  southern  and  west- 
ern prairie  region,  were  routes  of  travel  for  the  aboriginal  red 
men,  and  for  the  early  white  explorer?  and  fur  traders.  Their 
graceful  birch  canoes  passed  along  these  almost  countless  streams, 
and  across  the  thousands  of  beautiful  lakes,  as  the  chief  means 
of  travel  and  commerce,  during  nearly  two  hundred  years  from 
the  time  of  the  first  coming  of  white  men. 

Where  the  streams  are  broken  by  rapids  or  falls,  the  canoe 
and  its  freight  were  portaged  past  the  obstruction ;  and  the  head- 
waters or  branches  of  each  river  system  were  connected  with 


GEOGEAPHIC  FEATUEES.  39 

those  of  others  by  portage  paths.  Throughout  the  gently  undu- 
lating region,  adjacent  drainage  areas  are  in  many  places  se- 
parated by  scarcely  perceptible  heights  of  watershed. 

On  the  most  western  of  the  aboriginal  routes  of  canoe  traffic 
in  Minnesota,  at  Brown's  Valley,  a  great  channel  cut  during  the 
closing  part  of  the  Ice  Age,  between  Lake  Traverse,  outflowing 
north  to  the  Eed  river,  and  Big  Stone  lake,  flowing  southward 
by  the  Minnesota  river,  the  canoes  could  sometimes  be  floated  in 
rainy  seasons  across  a  watershed  separating  the  greatest  drainage 
basins  of  the  continent. 

Further  notes  of  heights  of  lakes  and  descent  of  streams 
in  this  state  are  supplied  from  a  report  made  by  the  present 
writer,  entitled  Altitudes  between  Lake  Superior  and  the  Rocky 
Mountains  (United  States  Geological  Survey,  Bulletin  No.  72, 
229  pages,  1891).  These  heights,  given  in  feet  above  the  sea, 
were  obtained  from  railway  surveys  and  other  exact  surveys  by 
leveling. 

The  St.  Louis  river,  in  its  stage  of  low  water,  has  a  height 
of  about  1,260  feet  at  the  mouth  of  the  East  Savanna  river, 
and  997  feet  at  the  Northern  Pacific  railway  bridge  between 
Carlton  and  Thomson,  thence  descending  395  feet  to  Lake 
Superior. 

Eainy  lake  is  1,117  feet  above  the  sea;  the  Eainy  river 
descends  23  feet  at  International  Falls,  two  miles  and  a  half 
from  the  mouth  of  this  lake;  the  Lake  of  the  Woods  is  at  1,060 
feet;  and  the  Winnipeg  river  thence  falls  350  feet  to  Lake 
Winnipeg. 

Lakes  in  northern  and  central  Becker  county,  forming  the 
sources  of  Otter  Tail  river,  the  head  stream  of  the  Red  river, 
are  1,400  to  1,500  feet  above  the  sea;  Otter  Tail  lake,  1,315 
feet;  Lake  Clitherall,  1,334;  and  the  East  and  West  Battle  lakes, 
1,328.  The  Eed  river  at  Fergus  Falls  descends  about  80  feet 
in  three  miles,  from  1,210  to  1,130  feet;  at  Breckenridge  its 
height  at  the  stage  of  low  water  is  943  feet;  at  Moorhead  and 
Fargo,  866  feet;  at  Grand  Forks,  784;  at  St.  Vincent  and  Pem- 
bina,  748;  and  at  the  city  of  Winnipeg,  724. 

The  range  between  the  lowest  and  highest  stages  of  the  Eed 


40  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 

river  much  surpasses  that  of  any  other  river  in  Minnesota.  At 
Breckenridge  the  range  is  about  15  feet,  but  it  increases  rapidly 
northward,  becoming  32  feet  at  Moorhead,  attaining  its  maximum 
of  50  feet  in  the  south  part  of  Polk  county,  and  continuing 
nearly  at  40  feet  from  Grand  Forks  to  the  international  boun- 
dary and  Winnipeg.  Floods  rising  nearly  or  quite  to  the  high- 
water  line  thus  noted  have  been  rare,  occurring  in  1826,  1852, 
1860,  1861,  and  1882.  They  are  caused  in  the  spring  by  the 
melting  of  unusual  supplies  of  snow  and  by  heavy  rains,  and 
often  are  increased  by  gorges  of  ice,  which  is  usually  broken 
up  along  the  southern  upper  portion  of  the  river  earlier  than 
along  its  lower  course.  These  floods  attain  a  height  only  a 
few  feet  below  the  level  of  the  adjoining  prairie  where  that  is 
highest,  and  along  the  greater  part  of  the  distance  between  Moor- 
head  and  Winnipeg  the  banks  are  overflowed  and  the  flat  land 
on  each  side  of  the  river  to  a  distance  of  two  to  four  or  five 
miles  from  it  is  covered  with  water  one  to  five  feet  or  more  in 
depth. 


Chapter  II. 
GEOLOGIC  HISTORY 

THE  following  concise  sketch  of  the  history  of  this  state 
during  the  vast  geologic  ages  is  based  on  the  publica- 
tions  of  the  Minnesota  Geological   Survey,  from   1872 
to  1901,  comprising  twenty-four  annual  reports  and  six  quarto 
volumes  of  final  reports.     This   survey,   occupying  thirty  years, 
was  under  the  continuous  direction  of  Prof.  N.  H.  Winchell  as 
state  geologist,  with  whom  the  present  writer  was  for  a  large  part 
of  that  time  an  assistant. 

THE  ARCHEAN  EEA. 

Granite,  syenite,  greenstone,  gneiss,  and  schists,  belonging  to 
the  Archean  or  Beginning  era,  reach  on  the  northern  boundary 
of  Minnesota  from  Gunflint  and  Saganaga  lakes  west  to  the  Lake 
of  the  Woods.  They  thence  extend  south  upon  a  large  part  of 
St.  Louis  and  Itasca  counties  to  the  Vermilion  and  Mesabi 
ranges,  famed  for  their  immense  deposits  of  iron  ore. 

A  narrow  Archean  belt  continues  from  this  great  area 
southwesterly  through  Cass  county,  mostly  covered  by  the  glacial 
drift,  and  expands  into  a  second  large  area  of  these  rocks,  reach- 
ing from  Todd,  Morrison  and  Stearns  counties  northeast  to 
Carlton  county  and  south  to  New  Ulm.  The  extensive  granite 
quarries  near  St.  Cloud  and  Sauk  Bapids  are  in  this  area. 

The  same  rocks  also  underlie  a  large  district  west  of  New 
Ulm,  extending  to  the  western  boundary  of  this  state,  mainly 

41 


42  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 

covered  by  Cretaceous  beds  and  glacial  drift.  In  that  part  of 
the  Minnesota  river  valley,  channeled  about  150  feet  below  the 
general  level  of  the  country,  the  Archean  granites  and  gneisses 
are  seen  in  many  and  extensive  outcrops,  and  have  been  much 
quarried  at  Ortonville,  near  the  mouth  of  Big  Stone  lake. 

Archean  time,  during  which  these  oldest  rocks  of  Minne- 
sota were  formed,  was  exceedingly  long,  perhaps  equalling  all  the 
later  eras.  Its  early  part  may  be  termed  azoic,  from  the  absence 
of  any  evidences  that  the  earth  or  the  sea  then  had  either  plant 
or  animal  life. 

PALEOZOIC  TIME. 

Next  after  the  Archean  was  a  very  long  era  characterized 
by  ancient  types  of  life,  as  its  name  Paleozoic  signifies. 

In  the  northeast  part  of  Minnesota,  adjoining  Lake  Super- 
ior, early  Paleozoic  rocks,  comprising  gabbro,  slates,  quartzites, 
and  conglomerates,  occupy  nearly  all  of  Cook  and  Lake  counties, 
the  southeast  part  of  St.  Louis  county,  and  eastern  Carlton 
county.  Westward  these  rocks  are  thought  to  underlie  the  glac- 
ial and  modified  drift  on  a  wide  belt  reaching  to  the  lower  part 
of  Crow  Wing  river.  They  are  called  the  Taconic  series  by 
Professor  Winchell,  who  regards  them  as  equivalent  with  the 
Lower  Cambrian  strata,  and  probably  also  partly  the  Middle 
Cambrian,  of  other  states  and  countries. 

In  southwestern  Minnesota  a  great  quartzite  formation  of 
the  Taconic  period  has  limited  outcrops  in  Brovm,  Watonwan, 
Cottonwood,  Pipestone,  and  Rock  counties,  where  it  doubtless 
occupies  large  areas  beneath  the  drift. 

Advancing  upward  in  the  succession  of  rock  strata,  and  on- 
ward in  the  Paleozoic  era,  we  have  in  the  southeast  part  of  this 
state,  from  Pine  county  south  to  the  Iowa  line,  and  reaching  east 
into  Wisconsin,  a  great  series  of  Upper  Cambrian  sandstones, 
limestones,  and  shales.  Unlike  the  preceding  Taconic  strata, 
which  are  mostly  much  tilted  or  folded,  the  Upper  Cambrian  and 
higher  formations  in  this  state  are  nearly  horizontal  strata,  hav- 
ing been  only  very  slightly  disturbed  or  changed  from  their  orig- 
inal condition  as  marine  sediments. 


GEOLOGIC  HISTORY.  43 

Another  and  similar  series,  of  Lower  Silurian  age,  chiefly 
limestones  and  shales,  lies  next  higher  in  the  vicinity  of  St.  Paul 
and  Minneapolis,  and  has  a  large  development  thence  southward, 
flanked  on  each  side  by  the  Cambrian  formations. 

Latest  of  the  Paleozoic  strata  in  Minnesota  are  scanty  De- 
vonian limestones,  shales,  and  sandstones,  observed  in  Mower 
county  and  continuing  into  Iowa. 

In  the  Upper  Cambrian  series,  sandstone  is  extensively  quar- 
ried at  Hinckley  and  Sandstone,  in  Pine  county,  and  limestone 
at  Kasota  and  Mankato,  in  the  Minnesota  valley.  Quarries  of 
smaller  extent  are  also  worked  at  many  other  places  in  both  the 
Upper  Cambrian  and  Lower  Silurian  series. 

This  state  has  no  Carboniferous  nor  Permian  strata,  belong- 
ing to  the  closing  periods  of  Paleozoic  time.  If  any  sediments 
were  then  laid  down  here,  they  have  since  been  eroded  and  re- 
moved during  long  ensuing  ages,  when  the  state  was  a  land  sur- 
face. Probably  it  stood  above  the  sea,  receiving  no  marine  nor 
estuarine  deposits,  but  undergoing  slow  erosion  by  rains,  rills, 
and  rivers,  bearing  sediments  away,  during  the  Carboniferous 
period  and  onward  until  the  Cretaceous  period. 

MESOZOIC  TIME. 

Through  the  early  and  greater  part  of  the  Mesozoic  era,  so 
named  for  its  intermediate  types  of  plants  and  animals,  Minne- 
sota appears  to  have  been  a  land  area,  receiving  therefore  no  ad- 
ditions to  its  rock  formations.  The  floras  and  faunas  of  this 
time  were  gradually  changing  from  their  primitive  and  ancient 
characters,  called  Paleozoic,  but  had  not  yet  attained  to  the  re- 
latively modern  or  new  forms  which  give  the  name  Cenozoic  to 
the  next  era. 

Toward  the  end  of  the  Cretaceous  period,  in  late  Mesozoic 
time,  this  area  was  again  mostly  depressed  beneath  the  sea.  Fre- 
quent outcrops  of  Cretaceous  shales  and  sandstone,  continuous 
from  their  great  expanse  on  the  western  plains,  occur  in  some 
parts  of  central  and  southern  Minnesota;  and  in  numerous  other 
places  deep  wells,  after  passing  through  the  thick  covering  of 


44  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 

glacial  drift,  encounter  these  Cretaceous  strata,  which  sometimes 
are  found  to  reach  to  a  thickness  of  several  hundred  feet.  Fur- 
ther evidence  of  the  eastward  extension  of  the  Cretaceous  sea 
upon  this  state  is  afforded  in  its  northern  part  by  Horace  V. 
Winchell's  discoveries  of  Cretaceous  shales  in  place  on  the  Little 
Fork  of  the  Rainy  river  and  on  the  high  Mesabi  iron  range. 

During  the  following  Cenozoic  era,  when  this  was  a  land 
region  subjected  to  erosion,  its  Cretaceous  deposits  were  largely 
carried  away;  but  a  remaining  portion,  in  some  tracts  having 
considerable  depth,  probably  still  lies  beneath  the  drift  on  the 
greater  part  of  the  western  four-fifths  of  Minnesota.  Concerning 
its  eastern  limit,  Prof.  N.  H.  Winchell  writes:  "A  line  drawn 
from  the  west  end  of  Hunter's  Island,  on  the  Canadian  boundary 
line,  southward  to  Minneapolis,  and  thence  southeastwardly 
through  Rochester  to  the  Iowa  state  line,  would,  in  general, 
separate  that  part  of  the  state  in  which  the  Cretaceous  is  not 
known  to  exist  from  that  in  which  it  does.  It  is  not  here  in- 
tended to  convey  the  idea  that  the  whole  state  west  of  this  line 
is  spread  over  with  the  Cretaceous,  because  there  are  many  places 
.where  the  drift  lies  directly  on  the  Silurian  or  earlier  rocks;  but 
throughout  this  part  of  the  state  the  Cretaceous  exists  at  least 
in  patches,  and  perhaps  once  existed  continuously." 

CENOZOIC  TIME. 

Ever  since  the  uplift  of  Minnesota  from  the  Cretaceous  sea, 
it  has  stood  above  the  sea  level  and  has  received  no  marine  sedi- 
ments. It  was  instead  being  slowly  sculptured  by  rains  and 
streams  through  the  long  periods  of  the  Tertiary  era;  and  dur- 
ing a  part  of  the  relatively  short  Quaternary  era  it  was  deeply 
covered  by  snow  and  ice  similar  to  the  ice-sheets  that  now  envel- 
ope the  interior  of  Greenland  and  the  Antarctic  continent. 

These  two  eras,  or  principal  divisions  of  geologic  history, 
may  be  here  classed  together  as  a  single  Cenozoic  era,  distin- 
guished by  the  evolutionary  creation  of  new  and  present  types 
of  life.  Nearly  all  the  plants  and  animals  of  the  preceding  eras 
have  disappeared,  as  also  many  that  lived  in  the  early  Cenozoic 


GEOLOGIC  HISTORY.  45 

periods,  while  new  species  succeeding  them  make  up  the  present 
floras  and  faunas. 

The  creation  of  man,  his  dispersion  over  the  earth,  and  his 
development  in  the  white,  black,  yellow,  and  red  races,  took  place 
during  the  later  part  of  Cenozoic  time,  which  is  often  called  the 
Pleistocene  (meaning  the  newest)  period  or  the  Quaternary  era. 
Finally  the  dominance  of  mankind  in  the  history  of  the  earth, 
with  utilization  of  its  vast  natural  resources,  forms  another  grand 
time  division  which  has  been  called  the  Psychozoic  era,  distin- 
guished by  the  higher  life  and  dominion  of  the  mind  or  soul. 
Thus  the  Tertiary,  Quaternary,  and  Psychozoic  divisions  of  time 
are  successive  parts  of  the  Cenozoic  era,  continuing  to  the  present 
day. 

THE  ICE  AGE. 

The  last  among  the  completed  periods  of  geology  was  the 
Ice  Age,  most  marvelous  in  its  strange  contrast  with  the  present 
time,  and  also  unlike  any  other  period  during  the  almost  incon- 
ceivably long,  uniformly  warm  or  temperate  eras  which  had  pre- 
ceded. The  northern  half  of  North  America  and  northern  Eu- 
rope then  became  enveloped  with  thick  sheets  of  snow  and  ice, 
probably  caused  chiefly  by  uplifts  of  the  land  as  extensive  high 
plateaus,  receiving  snowfall  throughout  the  year.  But  in  other 
parts  of  the  world,  and  especially  in  its  lower  temperate  and 
tropical  regions,  all  the  climatic  conditions  were  doubtless  then 
nearly  as  now,  permitting  plants  and  animals  to  survive  and 
flourish  until  the  departure  of  the  ice-sheets  gave  them  again  op- 
portunity to  spread  over  the  northern  lands. 

High  preglacial  elevation  of  the  drift-bearing  regions  is 
known  by  the  depths  of  fjords  and  submerged  continuations  of 
river  valleys,  which  on  the  Atlantic,  Arctic,  and  Pacific  coasts 
of  the  north  part  of  North  America  show  the  land  to  have  been 
elevated  at  least  2,000  to  3,000  feet  higher  than  now.  In  Nor- 
way the  bottom  of  the  Sogne  fjord,  the  longest  and  deepest  of 
the  many  fjords  of  that  coast,  is  4,000  feet  below  the  sea  level. 
Previous  to  the  Glacial  period  or  Ice  Age,  and  doubtless  causing 


46  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 

its  abundant  snowfall,  so  high  uplift  of  these  countries  had  taken 
place  that  streams  flowed  along  the  bottoms  of  the  fjords,  chan- 
neling them  as  very  deep  gorges  on  the  borders  of  the  land  areas. 

Under  the  vast  weight  of  the  ice-sheets,  however,  the  lands 
Bank  to  their  present  level  or  mostly  somewhat  lower,  whereby 
the  temperate  climate,  with  hot  summers,  properly  belonging  to 
the  southern  portions  of  the  ice-clad  regions,  was  restored.  The 
ice-sheets  were  then  rapidly  melted  away,  though  with  numerous 
pauses  or  sometimes  slight  readvances  of  the  mainly  receding 
glacial  boundary. 

Nearly  all  of  Minnesota  is  overspread  by  the  glacial  drift, 
the  only  exception  being  a  relatively  narrow  unglaciated  area 
bordering  the  Mississippi  river  from  Lake  Pepin  southward  and 
extending  into  Wisconsin  and  Iowa.  North  of  Lake  Superior 
the  drift  on  some  tracts  is  thin,  and  its  average  depth  there 
probably  does  not  exceed  50  feet.  On  the  western  four-fifths  of 
the  state  it  averages  from  100  to  150  feet  in  thickness,  almost 
everywhere  concealing  the  bed  rocks,  which  generally  had  been 
subaerially  eroded  in  preglacial  time  to  an  approximately  flat  or 
only  moderately  hilly,  surface. 

Small  knobs  and  hillocks  of  rock,  which  had  been  spared 
by  the  preglacial  erosion  were  worn  down  and  leveled  by  the  ice- 
sheet  in  its  very  slow  southward  movement,  and  its  drift  was 
filled  into  the  preglacial  valleys,  so  that  the  contour  of  the  drift- 
enveloped  country  is  now  mainly  more  uniform  than  it  was  be- 
fore the  Ice  age. 

But  on  certain  belts  the  drift  was  left  in  hills  and  ridges, 
accumulated  during  the  closing  stage  of  the  Glacial  period  along 
the  margin  of  the  ice  wherever  it  halted  in  its  general  retreat 
or  temporarily  readvanced.  Upon  the  greater  part  of  Minnesota 
the  only  hills  are  formed  of  this  morainic  drift,  ranging  in  height 
commonly  from  25  to  75  or  100  feet,  but  occasionally  attaining 
much  greater  altitude,  as  in  the  Leaf  hills,  which  rise  from  100 
to  350  feet  above  the  moderately  undulating  country  on  each 
side. 

Unstratified  glacial  drift,  called  till  or  boulder  clay,  which  was 
laid  down  by  the  ice-sheet  without  modification  by  water  trans- 


GEOLOGIC  HISTORY.  47 

portations,  assorting,  and  deposition  in  beds,  forms  the  surface  of 
probably  two-thirds,  or  a  larger  part,  of  Minnesota.  It  consists 
of  boulders,  gravel,  sand,  and  clay,  mingled  indiscriminately  to- 
gether in  a  very  hard  and  compact  formation,  which  therefore 
is  frequently  called  "hardpan."  The  boulders  of  the  till  are 
usually  so  plentiful  that  they  are  sprinkled  somewhat  numerously 
on  its  surface;  yet  they  are  seldom  more,  on  the  large  portions 
of  the  country  which  are  adapted  for  agriculture,  than  the  farmer 
needs  to  use,  after  clearing  them  from  his  fields,  for  the  founda- 
tions of  buildings  and  for  walling  up  his  cellar  and  well.  They 
are  rarely  abundant  enough  to  make  walls  for  the  inclosure  of 
the  fields,  as  in  New  England. 

The  moraine  belts  of  knolly  and  hilly  till  have  far  more 
abundant  boulders  than  are  found  on  its  more  extensive  com- 
paratively smooth  tracts.  Wherever  the  vicissitudes  of  the  wav- 
ering climate  caused  the  chiefly  waning  border  of  the  ice-sheet  to 
remain  nearly  stationary  during  several  years,  the  outflow  to- 
ward the  melting  steep  frontal  slope  brought  much  drift  which 
had  been  contained  in  the  lower  part  of  the  ice,  heaping  it  finally 
in  hills  and  ridges  along  the  ice  margin.  Twelve  of  these  mar- 
ginal belts  of  drift  knolls  and  hills  have  been  traced  in  irregu- 
larly looped  courses  across  Minnesota,  as  described  and  mapped  in 
the  reports  of  the  state  geological  survey. 

About  a  third  part  of  the  entire  mantle  of  drift  consists  of 
the  deposits  called  modified  drift,  being  waterworn  and  stratified 
gravel,  sand,  and  clay  or  silt,  which  were  washed  away  from  the 
drift  upon  and  beneath  the  retreating  ice-sheet  by  the  streams 
due  to  its  melting  and  to  accompanying  rains.  Hillocks  and 
ridges  of  gravel  and  sand  (called  kamee  and  eskers),  sand 
plateaus  and  plains,  and  the  valley  drift  (varying  from  very 
coarse  gravel  to  very  fine  clay,  often  eroded  so  that  its  remnants 
form  terraces),  are  the  principal  phases  of  the  modified  drift. 
ID  being  derived  directly  from  the  ice-sheet,  these  deposits  had 
the  same  origin  as  the  glacial  drift  forming  the  common  till  and 
the  greater  part  of  the  marginal  moraines;  but  they  were  modi- 
fied, large  boulders  being  not  included,  while  the  gravel  and 
finer  portions  were  brought,  further  pulverized  or  rounded,  and 
assorted  in  layers,  by  water. 


48  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 

GLACIAL  LAKE  AGASSIZ. 

When  the  departing  ice-sheet,  in  its  melting  off  the  land 
from  south  to  north,  receded  beyond  the  watershed  dividing  the 
basin  of  the  Minnesota  river  from  that  of  the  Red  river,  a  lake, 
fed  by  the  glacial  melting,  stood  at  the  foot  of  the  ice  fields,  and 
extended  northward  as  they  withdrew  along  the  valley  of  the 
Red  river  to  Lake  Winnipeg,  filling  this  broad  valley  to  the 
height  of  the  lowest  point  over  which  an  outlet  could  be  found. 
Until  the  ice  barrier  was  melted  on  the  area  now  crossed  by  the 
Nelson  river,  thereby  draining  this  glacial  lake,  its  outlet  was 
along  the  present  course  of  the  Minnesota  river.  At  first  its 
overflow  was  on  the  nearly  level  undulating  surface  of  the  drift, 
1.100  to  1,125  feet  above  the  sea,  at  the  west  side  of  Traverse 
and  Big  Stone  counties;  but  in  process  of  time  this  cut  a  chan- 
nel there,  called  Brown's  Valley,  100  to  150  feet  deep  and  about 
a  mile  wide,  the  highest  point  of  which,  on  the  present  water 
divide  between  the  Mississippi  and  Nelson  basins  is  975  feet 
above  the  sea  level.  From  this  outlet  the  valley  plain  of  the 
Red  river  extends  315  miles  north  to  Lake  Winnipeg,  which  is 
710  feet  above  the  sea.  Along  this  entire  'distance  there  is  a 
very  uniform  continuous  descent  of  a  little  less  than  one  foot 
per  mile. 

The  farmers  and  other  residents  of  this  fertile  plain  are 
well  aware  that  they  live  on  the  area  once  occupied  by  a  great 
lake,  for  its  beaches,  having  the  form  of  smoothly  rounded  ridges 
of  gravel  and  sand,  a  few  feet  high,  with  a  width  of  several  rods, 
are  observable  extending  horizontally  long  distances  upon  each 
of  the  slopes  which  rise  east  and  west  of  the  valley  plain.  Hun- 
dreds of  farmers  have  located  their  buildings  on  these  beack 
ridges  as  the  most  dry  and  sightly  spots  on  their  land,  affording 
opportunity  for  perfectly  drained  cellars  even  in  the  most  wet 
spring  seasons,  and  also  yielding  to  wells,  dug  through  this  sand 
and  gravel,  better  water  than  is  usually  obtainable  in  wells  on  the 
adjacent  clay  areas.  While  each  of  these  farmers,  in  fact  every- 
one living  in  the  Red  river  valley,  recognizes  that  it  is  an  old 
lake  bed,  few  probably  know  that  it  has  become  for  this  reason 


GEOLOGIC  HISTORY.  49 

a  district  of  special  interest  to  geologists,  who  have  traced  and 
mapped  its  upper  shore  along  a  distance  of  about  800  miles. 

Numerous  explorers  of  this  region,  from  Long  and  Keating 
in  1823,  to  Gen.  G.  K.  Warren  in  1868  and  Prof.  N.  H.  Winch- 
ell  in  1872,  recognized  the  lacustrine  features  of  this  valley;  and 
the  last  named  geologist  first  gave  what  is  now  generally  ac- 
cepted as  the  true  explanation  of  the  lake's  existence,  namely, 
that  it  was  produced  in  the  closing  stage  of  the  Glacial  period 
by  the  dam  of  the  continental  ice-sheet  at  the  time  of  its  final 
melting  away.  As  the  border  of  the  ice-sheet  retreated  north- 
ward along  the  Red  river  valley,  drainage  from  that  area  could 
not  flow  as  now  freely  to  the  north  through  Lake  Winnipeg  and 
into  the  ocean  at  Hudson  Bay,  but  was  turned  by  the  ice  bar- 
rier to  the  south  across  the  lowest  place  on  the  watershed,  which 
was  found,  as  before  noted,  at  Brown's  Valley,  on  the  west 
boundary  of  Minnesota. 

Detailed  exploration  of  the  shore  lines  and  area  of  this  lake 
was  begun  by  the  present  writer  for  the  Minnesota  Geological 
Survey  in  the  years  1879  to  1881.  In  subsequent  years  I  was 
employed  also  in  tracing  the  lake  shores  through  North  Dakota 
for  the  United  States  Geological  Survey,  and  through  southern 
Manitoba,  to  the  distance  of  100  miles  north  from  the  interna- 
tional boundary,  for  the  Geological  Survey  of  Canada.  For  the 
last  named  survey,  also,  Mr.  J.  B.  Tyrrell  extended  the  explora- 
tion of  the  shore  lines  more  or  less  completely  about  200  miles 
farther  north,  along  the  Riding  and  Duck  mountains  and  the 
Porcupine  and  Pasquia  hills,  west  of  lakes  Manitoba  and  Win- 
nipegosis,  to  the  Saskatchewan  river. 

This  glacial  lake  was  named  by  the  present  writer  in  the 
eighth  annual  report  of  the  Minnesota  Geological  Survey,  for 
the  year  1879,  in  honor  of  Louis  Agassiz,  the  first  prominent  ad- 
vocate of  the  theory  of  the  formation  of  the  drift  by  land  ice. 
Its  outflowing  river,  whose  channel  is  now  occupied  by  lakes 
Traverse  and  Big  Stone  and  Brown's  Valley,  was  also  named 
by  me,  in  a  paper  read  before  the  American  Association  for  the 
Advancement  of  Science  at  its  Minneapolis  meeting  in  1883  as 
the  River  Warren,  in  commemoration  of  General  Warren's  ad- 

I.-2 


50  MINNESOTA   IN   THREE    CENTURIES. 

mirable  work  in  the  United  States  Engineering  Corps,  in  pub- 
lishing maps  and  reports  of  the  Minnesota  and  Mississippi  river 
surveys.  Descriptions  of  Lake  Agassiz  and  the  River  Warren 
were  somewhat  fully  given  in  the  eighth  and  eleventh  annual  re- 
ports of  the  Minnesota  Geological  Survey,  and  in  the  first,  sec- 
ond, and  fourth  volumes  of  its  final  report;  and  more  complete 
descriptions  and  maps  of  the  whole  lake,  in  Minnesota,  North 
Dakota,  and  Manitoba,  were  published  in  1895  as  Monograph 
XXV  of  the  United  States  Geological  Survey. 

Several  successive  levels  of  Lake  Agassiz  are  recorded  by 
distinct  and  approximately  parallel  beaches,  of  gravel  and  sand, 
due  to  the  gradual  lowering  of  the  outlet  by  the  erosion  of  the 
channel  at  Brown's  Valley,  and  these  are  named  principally  from 
stations  on  the  Breckenridge  and  Wahpeton  line  of  the  Great 
Northern  railway,  in  their  descending  order,  the  Herman,  Nor- 
cross,  Tintah,  Campbell,  and  McCauleyville  beaches,  because  they 
pass  through  or  near  these  stations  and  towns.  The  highest  or 
Herman  beach  is  traced  in  Minnesota  from  the  northern  end  of 
Lake  Traverse  eastward  to  Herman,  and  thence  northward,  pass- 
ing a  few  miles  east  of  Barnesville,  through  Muskoda,  on  the 
Northern  Pacific  railway,  and  around  the  west  and  north  sides 
of  Maple  lake,  which  lies  about  twenty  miles  east-southeast  of 
Crookston,  beyond  which  it  goes  eastward  to  the  south  side  of 
Red  and  Rainy  lakes.  In  North  Dakota  the  Herman  shore  lies 
about  four  miles  west  of  Wheatland,  on  the  Northern  Pacific 
railway,  and  the  same  distance  west  of  Larimore,  on  the  Pacific 
line  of  the  Great  Northern  railway.  On  the  international  boun- 
dary, in  passing  from  North  Dakota  into  Manitoba,  this  shore 
coincides  with  the  escarpment  or  front  of  the  Pembina  Moun- 
tain plateau;  and  beyond  passes  northwest  to  Brandon  on  the 
Aesiniboine,  and  thence  northeast  to  the  Riding  Mountain. 

Leveling  along  this  highest  beach  shows  that  Lake  Agassiz, 
in  its  earliest  and  highest  stage,  was  nearly  200  feet  deep  above 
Moorhead  and  Fargo;  a  little  more  than  300  feet  deep  above 
Grand  Forks  and  Crookston;  about  450  feet  above  Pembina,  St. 
Vincent,  and  Emerson;  and  about  500  and  600  feet,  respectively, 
ebove  lakes  Manitoba  and  Winnipeg.  The  length  of  Lake  Agas- 


GEOLOGIC  HISTORY.  51 

Biz  is  estimated  to  have  been  nearly  700  miles,  and  its  area  not 
less  than  110,000  square  miles,  exceeding  the  combined  areas  of 
the  five  great  lakes  tributary  to  the  St.  Lawrence. 

After  the  ice  border  was  so  far  melted  back  as  to  give  out- 
lets northeastward  lower  than  the  River  Warren,  numerous  other 
beaches  marking  these  lower  levels  of  the  glacial  lake  were 
formed;  and  finally,  by  the  full  departure  of  the  ice,  Lake 
Agassiz  was  drained  away  to  its  present  representative,  Lake 
Winnipeg. 

The  earliest  Herman  beach  has  a  northward  ascent  of  about 
a-  foot  per  mile,  but  the  lowest  and  latest  beaches  differ  only 
very  slightly  from  perfect  horizontally.  It  is  thus  known  that 
a  moderate  uplift  of  this  area,  increasing  in  amount  from  south 
to  north,  was  in  progress  and  was  nearly  or  quite  completed  while 
the  ice-sheet  was  melting  away.  Before  the  Glacial  period,  all 
the  northern  half  of  our  continent  had  been  greatly  elevated, 
producing  at  last  the  cold  and  snowy  climate  and  the  thick  ice- 
sheet;  in  a  late  part  of  that  period  the  land  was  depressed  under 
the  weight  of  the  ice,  which  in  consequence  melted  away;  and 
latest,  at  the  same  time  with  the  departure  of  the  ice-sheet,  the 
unburdened  land  rose  a  few  hundred  feet,  the  uplift  having  a 
gradual  increase  toward  the  central  part  of  the  country  formerly 
ice-covered. 

In  comparison  with  the  immensely  long  and  ancient  geolo- 
gic periods  that  had  preceded,  the  final  melting  of  the  ice-sheet, 
the  deposition  of  its  marginal  moraines  and  oth:3r  drift  forma- 
tions, its  fringing  glacial  lakes,  and  the  attendant  uplifting  of 
the  land,  occupied  little  time  and  were  very  recent.  The  entire 
duration  of  Lake  Agassiz,  estimated  from  the  amount  of  its 
wave  action  in  erosion  and  in  the  accumulation  of  beach  gravel 
and  sand,  appears  to  have  been  only  about  1,000  years,  and  the 
time  of  its  existence  is  thought  to  have  been  somewhere  between 
6,000  and  10,000  years  ago. 

GEOLOGIC  TIME  RATIOS. 

It  is  comparatively  easy  to  determine  the  ratios  or  relative 
lengths  of  the  successive  geologic  eras,  but  confessedly  very 


52  MINNESOTA  IX  TIIRKK  CENTURIES. 

difficult  to  decide  beyond  doubt  even  the  approximate  length  in 
years  of  any  part  of  the  records  of  the  rock  strata.  The  portions 
for  which  we  have  the  best  means  of  learning  their  lengths  are 
the  Ice  Age  and  subsequent  time.  If  we  can  ascertain  some- 
what nearly  what  lias  been  the  duration  since  the  oncoming  of 
the  Glacial  period,  it  will  serve  as  a  known  quantity  to  be  used 
as  the  multiplier  in  the  series  of  ratios,  for  giving  the  approxi- 
mate or  probable  measures  in  years  for  the  recedingly  earlier 
and  far  longer  Tertiary,  Mesozoic  or  Secondary,  Paleozoic  or 
Primary,  and  Archean  or  Beginning  eras,  which  last  takes  us 
back  almost  or  quite  to  the  time  when  the  cooling  molten  earth 
became  first  enveloped  with  a  solid  crust. 

The  ratios  reached  by  Professors  J.  D.  Dana  and  Alexander 
Winchell,  from  the  thickness  of  the  rock  strata,  are  closely  har- 
monious, the  supposed  durations  of  Paleozoic,  Mesozoic,  and 
Cenozoic  time  being  to  each  other  as  12  :3 :1.  Dana  further  ven- 
tured a  supposition  that  these  three  vast  eras,  from  the  Cam- 
brian down  until  now,  may  comprise  some  48,000,000  years, 
which  would  give  for  the  Paleozoic  era  36,000,000  years;  the 
Mesozoic,  9,000,000;  and  the  Cenozoic,  3,000,000.  He  dis- 
claimed, however,  any  assumption  that  these  figures  are  "even  an 
approximate  estimate  of  the  real  length  of  the  interval,  but  only 
of  relative  lengths,  and  especially  to  make  apparent  the  fact  that 
these  intervals  were  very  long." 

Professor  W.  M.  Davis,  without  speaking  definitely  of  the 
lapse  of  time  by  years,  endeavors  to  give  some  conception  of 
what  these  and  like  estimates  of  geologic  ratios  really  mean, 
through  a  translation  of  them  into  terms  of  a  linear  scale. 
Starting  with  the  representation  of  the  Postglacial  or  Recent 
period,  since  the  North  American  ice-sheet  was  melted  away,  as 
two  inches,  he  estimates  that  the  beginning  of  the  Tertiary  eros- 
ion of  the  Hudson  river  gorge  through  the  Highlands  would  be 
expressed  by  a  distance  of  ten  feet;  that  the  Triassic  reptilian 
tracks  in  the  sandstone  of  the  Connecticut  Valley  would  be  prob- 
ably 50  feet  distant;  that  the  formation  of  the  coal  beds  of 
Pennsylvania  would  be  80  or  100  feet  back  from  the  present 
time;  and  that  the  Middle  Cambrian  trilobites  of  Braintree, 
Mass.,  would  be  200,  300,  or  400  feet  from  UP. 


GEOLOGIC  HISTOKY.  53 

Having  such  somewhat  definite  and  agreeing  ratios,  derived 
from  various  data  by  different  investigators,  can  we  secure  the 
factor  by  which  they  should  be  multiplied  to  yield  the  approxi- 
mate duration  of  geologic  periods  and  eras  in  years?  If  on  the 
scale  used  by  Professor  Davis  we  could  substitute  a  certain  time 
for  the  period  since  the  departure  of  the  ice-sheet,  we  should 
thereby  at  once  determine,  albeit  with  some  vagueness  and  ac- 
knowledged latitude  for  probable  error,  how  much  time  has  passed 
since  the  Triassic  tracks  were  made,  the  coal  deposited,  and  the 
trilobites  entombed  in  the  Cambrian  slates.  Now  just  this  lat- 
est and  present  division  of  the  geologic  record,  following  the 
Ice  Age,  is  the  only  one  for  which  geologists  find  sufficient  data 
to  permit  direct  measurements  or  estimates  of  its  duration. 
"The  glacial  invasion  from  which  New  England  and  other  north- 
ern countries  have  lately  escaped,"  remarks  Davis,  "was  prehis- 
toric, and  yet  it  should  not  be  regarded  as  ancient." 

In  various  localities  we  are  able  to  measure  the  present  rate 
of  erosion  of  gorges  below  waterfalls,  and  the  length  of  the  post- 
glacial gorge  divided  by  the  rate  of  recession  of  the  falls  gives 
approximately  the  time  since  the  Ice  Age.  Such  measurements 
of  the  gorge  and  Falls  of  St.  Anthony  by  Prof.  N.  H.  Winchell 
show  the  length  of  the  Postglacial  or  Eecent  period  to  have  been 
about  8,000  years;  and  from  the  surveys  of  Niagara  Falls,  Prof. 
G.  F.  Wright  and  the  present  writer  believe  it  to  have  been  7,000 
years,  more  or  less.  From  the  rates  of  wave-cutting  along  the 
sides  of  Lake  Michigan  and  the  consequent  accumulation  of  sand 
around  the  south  end  of  the  lake,  Dr.  E.  Andrews  estimates 
that  the  land  there  became  uncovered  from  its  ice -sheet  not  more 
than  7,500  years  ago.  Professor  Wright  obtains  a  similar  re- 
sult from  the  rate  of  filling  of  kettle-holes  among  gravel  knolls 
and  ridges,  and  likewise  from  the  erosion  of  valleys  by  streams 
tributary  to  Lake  Erie;  and  Prof.  B.  K.  Emerson,  from  the 
rate  of  deposition  of  modified  drift  in  the  Connecticut  Valley 
at  Northampton,  Mass.,  thinks  that  the  time  since  the  Glacial 
period  cannot  exceed  10,000  years.  An  equally  small  estimate 
is  also  indicated  by  the  studies  of  Gilbert  and  Kussell  for  the 
time  since  the  highest  rise  of  the  Quaternary  lakes  Bonneville 


54  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 

and  Lahontan,  lying  in  Utah  and  Nevada,  within  the  Great 
I'.nsin  of  interior  drainage,  which  are  believed  to  have  been  con- 
temporaneous with  the  great  extension  of  ice-sheets  upon  the 
northern  part  of  our  continent. 

Professor  James  Geikie  maintains  that  the  use  of  paleolithic 
implements  in  the  Stone  Age  had  ceased,  and  that  early  man  in 
Europe  made  neolithic  (polished)  implements,  before  the  re- 
cession of  the  ice-sheet  from  Scotland,  Denmark,  and  the  Scan- 
dinavian peninsula;  and  Prestwich  suggests  that  the  dawn  of 
civilization  in  Egypt,  China,  and  India,  may  have  been  coeval 
with  the  glaciation  of  northwestern  Europe.  In  Wales  and 
Yorkshire  the  amount  of  denudation  of  limestone  rocks  on  which 
boulders  lie  has  been  regarded  as  proof  that  a  period  of  not 
more  than  6,000  years  has  elapsed  since  the  boulders  were  left 
in  their  positions.  The  vertical  extent  of  this  denudation,  aver- 
aging about  six  inches,  is  nearly  the  same  with  that  observed 
in  the  southwest  part  of  the  Province  of  Quebec  by  Sir  William 
Ix)gan  and  Dr.  Robert  Bell,  where  veins  of  quartz  worn  by 
glaciation  stand  out  to  various  heights  not  exceeding  one  foot 
above  the  weathered  surface  of  the  inclosing  limestone. 

From  this  wide  range  of  concurrent  but  independent  testi- 
monies, we  may  accept  it  as  practically  demonstrated  that  the 
period  since  the  ice-sheets  disappeared  from  North  America  and 
Europe  measures  some  6,000  to  10,000  years.  Within  this  period 
are  comprised  the  successive  stages  of  man's  development  of  the 
arts,  from  the  time  when  his  best  implements  were  polished  stone 
through  ages  of  bronze,  iron,  and  finally  steel,  to  the  present 
time,  when  steel,  steam,  and  electricity  bring  all  nations  into 
close  alliance. 

Having  thus  found  the  value  of  one  term  in  our  ratios  of 
geologic  time  divisions,  we  may  know  them  all  approximately 
by  its  substitution.  The  two  inches  assumed  to  represent  the 
postglacial  portion  of  the  Quaternary  era  may  be  called  8,000 
years;  on  the  same  scale,  according  to  the  proportional  estimates 
by  Davis,  the  Triassic  period  was  probably  2,400.000  years  ago; 
the  time  since  the  Carboniferous  period,  near  the  end  of  the 
Paleozoic  era,  has  been  about  four  or  five  millions  of  years; 


GEOLOGIC  HISTOEY.  55 

and  since  the  middle  of  the  Cambrian  period,  twice  or  perhaps 
four  times  as  long.  Continuing  this  series  farther  back  in  agree- 
ment with  the  scale  thus  suggested  by  Davis,  the  earliest  Cam- 
brian fossils  would  be  20  or  25  millions  of  years  old,  and  the 
beginning  of  life  on  the  earth  about  twice  as  long  ago. 

To  substitute  our  measure  of  postglacial  time  in  Dana's 
ratios,  we  must  first  ascertain  its  proportion  to  the  preceding 
Glacial  period,  and  then  the  ratio  which  these  two  together  bear 
to  the  Tertiary  era.  From  various  estimates  of  the  relative  ages 
of  different  portions  of  the  drift  sheets,  we  have  the  probable 
length  of  Glacial  and  Postglacial  time  together  75.000  or  100,000 
years,  more  or  less;  but  a  probably  long  preceding  time,  while 
the  areas  that  became  covered  by  ice  were  being  uplifted  to  high 
altitudes,  may  perhaps  with  good  reason  be  also  included  in  the 
Quaternary  era,  which  then  would  comprise  some  150,000  years. 
In  comparing  the  Tertiary  era  with  the  Quaternary,  the  best 
means  for  learning  their  ratio  I  think  to  be  found  in  the  changes 
of  faunas  and  floras  since  the  beginning  of  Tertiary  time,  using 
especially  the  marine  faunas  as  most  valuable  for  this  compari- 
son. Scarcely  any  species  of  marine  mollusks  have  become  ex- 
tinct or  undergone  important  changes  during  the  Glacial  and 
Eecent  periods,  but  since  the  Eocene  dawn  of  the  Tertiary  nearly 
all  these  species  have  come  into  existence.  Judged  upon  this 
basis,  the  Tertiary  era  seems  at  least  thirty  or  forty  times  lon- 
ger than  the  Ice  Age  and  subsequent  time;  in  other  words,  it 
may  well  have  lasted  two  millions  or  even  four  millions  of  years. 

If  we  take  the  mean  of  these  numbers,  or  three  million 
years,  for  Cenozoic  time,  or  the  Tertiary  and  Quaternary  ages 
together,  we  have  precisely  the  value  of  Professor  Dana's  ratios 
which  he  assumed  for  conjectural  illustration,  namely,  48,000,000 
years  since  the  Cambrian  period  began.  But  the  diversified  types 
of  animal  life  in  the  earliest  Cambrian  faunas  surely  imply  a 
long  antecedent  time  for  their  development,  on  the  assumption 
that  the  Creator  worked  then  as  during  the  subsequent  ages  in 
the  evolution  of  all  living  creatures.  According  to  these  ratios 
therefore,  the  time  needed  for  the  deposition  of  the  earth's 
stratified  rocks  and  the  unfolding  of  its  plant  and  animal  life 
must  be  about  100,000,000  years. 


56  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 

The  gneisses  and  schists  which  form  large  areas  of  north- 
ern Minnesota  probably  belong  to  the  earliest  crust  of  the  orig- 
inally molten  and  then  fast  cooling  earth,  a  hundred  million 
years  or  longer  ago.  The  trappean  rocks  and  Cambrian  sand- 
stone and  shales  cut  through  by  the  St.  Croix  river  at  Taylor's 
Palls  are  probably  fifty  million  years  old,  more  or  less;  and  the 
abundantly  fossiliferous  Trenton  limestone  of  St.  Paul  and  Min- 
neapolis is  perhaps  two-thirds  as  old,  each  being  far  more  an- 
cient than  the  great  coal  deposits  of  the  closing  part  of  Pale- 
ozoic time.  After  coming  forward  to  the  Cretaceous  marine  sub- 
mergence of  the  greater  part  of  Minnesota,  only  some  three  to 
five  million  years  remain  between  that  time  and  the  present. 
Much  nearer  to  our  own  day,  a  continental  uplift,  terminating 
the  Tertiary  and  introducing  the  Quaternary  era,  began  perhaps 
a  seventh  or  a  sixth  part  of  «a  million  years  ago,  and  in  its  cul- 
mination, estimated  to  have  been  about  a  hundred  thousand  years 
ago,  was  the  chief  cause  of  the  Ice  Age. 

Compared  with  these  almost  inconceivable  geologic  periods, 
a  man's  life,  or  even  the  period  of  written  history,  seems  like 
the  narrow  span  measured  by  an  outspread  hand;  but  a  new 
and  grander  meaning  comes  into  the  words,  "Of  old  hast  Thou 
laid  the  foundation  of  the  earth." 


Chapter  III. 
CLIMATE. 

ALL  the  bounties  that  the  earth  yields  to  the  farmer, 
dairyman,  stock-raiser,  fruit-grower,  and  florist,  come 
from  God  as  his  gifts  through  the  sunshine  and  the 
rain.  To  the  climate  also  is  due  the  division  of  this  state  in  its 
great  regions  of  forest  and  prairie,  with  their  diversities  of  the 
fauna  and  flora.  Thence  came  whatever  the  savage  possessed, 
of  game,  fish,  wild  rice,  berries,  and  the  products  of  his  rude 
agriculture,  before  the  white  man  brought  the  arts  of  civilization. 
The  State  of  Minnesota,  lying  at  the  center  of  a  great  con- 
tinent, has  a  thoroughly  inland  climate,  with  a  wide  contrast  be- 
tween the  prevailingly  cold  winters  and  hot  summers,  but  liable 
to  sudden  and  considerable  changes  of  temperature  at  any  sea- 
son. Rainfall  and  snowfall  are  less  than  in  any  of  the  states 
farther  east,  but  more  than  in  the  Dakotas  and  other  states  of 
the  western  plains.  The  air  generally  contains  little  moisture, 
few  days  are  continuously  cloudy,  and  all  parts  of  the  year  have 
much  sunshine. 

TEMPERATURE. 

Some  portions  of  each  winter,  for  a  few  days  together,  or 
often  through  several  weeks,  have  very  cold  temperature,  with 
the  mercury  of  the  Fahrenheit  thermometer  sinking  to  ten, 
twenty,  or  thirty  degrees  below  zero  at  night,  and  occasionally 
not  rising  so  high  as  to  zero  at  noon  of  an  entirely  sunshiny  day. 

57 


58  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 

But  the  dryness  of  the  atmosphere  makes  such  severe  cold  no 
more  difficult  to  endure  than  temperatures  twenty  to  thirty  de- 
grees higher  in  the  northern  states  along  our  Atlantic  coast. 

Usually  there  is  no  considerable  thawing  at  any  time  dur- 
ing two  or  three  months  of  the  winter;  but  sometimes  a  winter 
here  is  quite  mild,  with  many  alternations  of  thawing  and  freez- 
ing weather.  The  ordinarily  scanty  snowfall  in  the  greater  part 
of  the  state,  which  gives  a  sheet  of  snow  seldom  exceeding  a 
foot  in  average  depth,  is  likely  to  serve  well,  if  not  too  much 
drifted  by  gales  at  the  times  of  its  fall,  for  sleighing  and  sledding 
tli  rough  the  whole  period  of  steady  cold.  This  season,  too,  is 
more  sharply  demarked  than  in  most  other  parts  of  the  United 
States.  It  is  begun  by  a  sudden  cold  wave,  generally  during  the 
first  half  of  November,  which  freezes  the  ground  and  stops  the 
late  autumn  work  of  plowing;  and  the  return  of  warmth  in 
spring  is  by  a  sudden  transition  which  rapidly  melts  away  the 
snow  and  soon  thaws  and  dries  the  land  sufficiently  to  prepare 
it  for  the  seeding  of  the  broad  wheat  fields. 

In  the  summer  there  are  commonly  only  a  few  excessively 
hot  days  (80  degrees  to  100  degrees  F.)  in  a  single  heated  term, 
which  is  preceded  and  followed  by  longer  terms  of  agreeable  cool- 
ness, even  at  midday.  It  is  also  important  to  note  that,  how- 
ever hot  the  days  may  be,  the  nights,  almost  without  exception, 
through  the  whole  summer  are  cool  and  favorable  for  refreshing 
sleep.  Excepting  the  few  very  hot  days  or  weeks  of  the  mid- 
summer, the  temperature  generally  is  cool  and  invigorating 
through  the  six  or  seven  months  in  which  the  land  is  worked 
and  the  harvest  gathered. 

During  January,  the  coldest  month,  the  average  tempera- 
ture is  about  15  degrees  Fahrenheit  at  the  southeast  corner  of 
Minnesota;  about  12  degrees  at  St.  Paul  and  Minneapolis,  and 
nearly  the  same  at  Duluth;  and  thence  it  diminishes  northwest- 
ward to  zero  at  the  Lake  of  the  Woods,  and  about  two  degrees 
below  zero  at  St.  Vincent  and  Pembina,  situated  on  the  Red  river 
close  to  the  international  boundary. 

The  warmest  month,  July,  has  an  average  temperature  of 
about  73  degrees  along  the  southern  border  of  this  state;  74  de- 


CLIMATE.  59 

grees  at  St.  Paul  and  Minneapolis;  68  degrees  at  Moorhead  and 
Fargo;  65  degrees  at  St.  Vincent;  and  64  to  62  degrees  in  north- 
eastern Minnesota,  north  of  Lake  Superior. 

For  the  whole  year,  the  southeast  corner  of  the  state  has  a 
mean  temperature  of  about  46  degrees;  St.  Paul  and  Minne- 
apolis, about  45  degrees;  and  northern  Minnesota,  40  to  35 
degrees. 

RAINFALL  AND  SNOWFALL. 

The  mean  annual  precipitation  of  moisture  as  rain  and 
snow  in  Minnesota  ranges  from  about  30  to  20  inches.  It  is 
greatest  in  the  southeast  corner  of  the  state  and  in  the  vicinity 
of  Duluth;  at  St.  Paul  and  Minneapolis  it  is  about  28  inches; 
and  it  is  least  at  the  northwest  corner  of  the  state. 

The  most  plentiful  precipitaton  is  during  the  season  of  the 
growth  of  crops,  increasing,  on  an  average  for  the  whole  state, 
through  the  spring  and  in  June,  which  is  usually  the  most  rainy 
month,  with  four  to  five  inches  of  rainfall;  and  decreasing  to 
about  three  inches  and  a  half  in  July,  nearly  the  same  in  August, 
and  about  three  inches  in  September.  But  many  years  depart 
widely  from  these  averages,  there  being  sometimes  during  several 
consecutive  years  an  excess  and  during  other  isolated  or  conse- 
cutive years  a  deficiency  of  rainfall.  During  all  the  sixty  years 
since  considerable  agricultural  settlements  were  first  made  in 
Minnesota,  the  rainfall  and  temperature,  though  showing  marked 
contrasts  in  different  years,  have  always  been  so  favorable  for 
farming  that  there  has  been  no  instance  of  failure  to  secure  at 
least  a  generally  remunerative  harvest,  while  most  of  the  years 
have  yielded  very  abundantly. 

A  large  portion  of  the  rainfall  is  brought  by  thunder  show- 
ers, which  may  occur  at  any  hour  of  the  day  or  night.  Terms 
of  cloudy  and  more  or  less  rainy  weather,  due  to  broad  storms 
that  sweep  from  west  to  east,  occasionally  occupy  one,  two,  or 
three  days,  or  very  rarely  a  whole  week;  but  on  the  average,  in 
all  seasons  of  the  year,  this  region  has  a  large  majority  of  clear 
and  sunny  days. 


60  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 

In  addition  to  the  recorded  rainfall,  seasons  that  have  a 
considerable  supply  of  rain,  with  at  least  a  moderately  humid 
atmosphere,  receive  much  moisture  in  the  form  of  the  nightly 
dews,  which  greatly  help  the  growth  of  crops;  but  in  seasons  of 
drought,  with  an  arid  atmosphere,  when  all  vegetation  gasps  for 
moisture,  the  nights  condense  little  or  no  dew. 

In  winter  the  snow  is  commonly  about  a  foot  deep  during 
two  or  three  months,  from  December  or  January  to  March. 
Sometimes  it  comes  earlier  or  stays  later,  and  very  rarely  it  at- 
tains an  average  depth  of  two  or  three  feet.  Nearly  every  win- 
ter on  the  great  prairies  of  southern  and  western  Minnesota  has 
from  one  to  three  or  four  severe  storms,  called  blizzards,  in  which 
the  snowfall  is  accompanied  and  followed  by  a  fierce  wind  and 
often  by  very  low  temperature.  The  air  is  filled  with  flying 
grains  of  snow,  by  which  the  view  to  any  considerable  distance 
is  obscured  and  the  traveler  finds  his  eyes  soon  blinded  in  at- 
tempting to  move  or  look  in  the  direction  from  which  the  storm 
comes.  The  earliest  snows,  which,  however,  are  likely  to  be  soon 
melted  away,  usually  fall  during  November,  but  very  rarely  they 
come  as  early  as  the  middle  of  September;  f»nd  the  latest  snows 
vary  in  time  from  March  to  May. 

FLUCTUATIONS  OF  LAKES  AND  STREAMS. 

Through  the  past  hundred  years  maximum  and  minimum 
stages  of  the  Great  Lakes,  tributary  to  the  St.  Lawrence,  have  al- 
ternated in  cycles  of  about  a  dozen  years,  during  which  com- 
paratively scanty  average  rainfall  for  several  years  was  followed 
by  unusually  abundant  rainfall.  Besides  such  short  cycles,  im- 
portant secular  changes  of  the  mean  annual  precipitation  in  this 
state  and  throughout  the  Northwest,  occupying  considerably  lon- 
ger periods,  have  caused  remarkable  changes  in  the  levels  of  num- 
erous lakes  which  have  no  outlets. 

Devil's  lake,  in  North  Dakota,  thus  shows  evidence  of  hav- 
ing attained,  about  the  year  1830,  a  level  sixteen  feet  higher 
than  its  low  stage  in  1889,  reaching  at  or  near  the  former  date 
to  the  line  that  limits  the  large  and  dense  timber  of  its  bordering 


CLIMATE.  61 

groves.  Below  that  line  are  only  smaller  and  scattered  trees,  of 
which  the  largest,  being  cut  down,  indicated  by  their  rings  of 
annual  growth  the  approximate  date  of  the  former  flood  stage 
of  the  lake.  This  was  near  the  time  of  the  liighest  known  flood 
of  the  Eed  river,  in  the  spring  of  1826,  when  its  water  rose  five 
feet  above  the  surface  where  the  city  of  Winnipeg  is  now  built. 
Likewise  it  may  be  noted  that  the  highest  known  stage  of  the 
Laurentian  lakes  was  in  1838,  when  Lake  Erie  stood  six  feet 
above  its  lowest  recorded  stage,  which  was  in  the  winter  of 
1819-20. 

Lake  Como,  also  without  an  outlet,  in  the  park  of  this 
name  at  St.  Paul,  fluctuated  six  feet  and  a  half  from  its  highest 
water  level  in  1873  to  its  lowest  stage  in  1892.  During  the  next 
thirteen  years  this  lake  varied  only  one  to  two  feet  above  its 
minimum  stage;  but  in  the  last  two  years,  from  1905  to  1907,  it 
has  gradually  risen  three  feet,  overflowing  the  lower  parts  of  its 
shores,  where  many  willows  and  other  trees  had  been  planted 
and  had  attained  a  fine  growth. 

Taking  the  average  for  this  entire  state,  its  mean  annual 
rainfall,  including  the  snowfall  in  its  equivalent  of  rain,  is  about 
twenty-six  inches,  of  which  the  far  greater  part,  about  three- 
fourths,  is  returned  to  the  atmosphere  and  clouds  by  evaporation 
from  the  land  and  from  the  surfaces  of  the  lakes  and  streams. 
Only  a  fourth  part,  or  less,  is  carried  into  the  sea  by  the  rivers. 

At  the  ordinary  low  stages  of  the  great  rivers,  as  the  Mis- 
sissippi and  the  Eed  River  of  the  North,  they  carry  only  about  a 
third  of  their  average  volume,  which,  on  the  other  hand,  is  very 
far  surpassed  by  the  high  flood  stages  of  a  few  days  or  weeks  in 
each  year. 

Itasca  lake,  until  it  was  recently  dammed  for  floating  the 
lumbermen's  logs  down  the  shallow  outflowing  Mississippi  river, 
had  a  yearly  fluctuation  of  less  than  one  foot;  and  the  steadying 
effect  of  lakes  Bemidji,  Cass,  and  Winnebagoshish,  always  pre- 
vented any  very  great  floods  on  the  head  stream  of  this  river 
in  northern  and  central  Minnesota.  The  floods  are  now  further 
controlled  and  diminished  there  by  the  reservoirs  constructed  by 
the  United  States  government,  which  catch  a  large  part  of  the 


62  MINNESOTA   IN   THREE   CENTURIES. 

upper  waters  when  most  abundantly  supplied  by  snow  melting 
and  rains  in  the  spring. 

At  St.  Paul  the  vertical  fluctuation  between  extreme  low 
water  and  the  highest  recorded  flood  stage  of  the  Mississippi  is 
19  feet;  at  Lake  Pepin  it  is  16  feet;  and  at  Prairie  du  Chien 
and  the  mouth  of  the  Wisconsin  river  it  is  22  feet.  The  date  of 
the  maximum  river  flood  thus  registered  at  St.  Paul  was  April 
29,  1881;  and  at  Lake  Pepin  and  Prairie  du  Chien,  June  16  to 
22,  1880. 

AIR   CURRENTS. 

The  nearly  level  vast  prairies,  occupying  a  third  part  of 
Minnesota,  are  fully  exposed  to  all  currents  of  the  air,  and  dur- 
ing the  most  windy  months,  which  are  in  the  spring  and  autumn, 
they  seem  very  bleak  to  one  who  has  previously  lived  only  in  dis- 
tricts where  the  surface  mostly  receives  a  partial  shelter  from  the 
force  of  winds  by  the  undulations  of  hills  and  vales  and  by  the 
presence  of  forests  and  trees  cultivated  for  ornament  and  shade. 
The  movements  of  the  atmosphere  en  this  prairie  district  do  not 
appear,  however,  to  exceed  in  their  aggregate  amount  those  on 
the  wooded  part  of  the  state,  or  on  the  basins  of  the  great  Laur- 
entian  lakes,  or  on  the  Atlantic  seaboard.  Exposed  places 
throughout  these  areas,  as  the  tops  of  hills,  are  quite  as  severely 
swept  by  gales  as  the  prairies,  where  they  are  so  much  more  ob- 
served in  the  common  experience  of  the  people.  One  of  the  most 
desirable  improvements  of  the  prairie  homestead  is  the  cultiva- 
tion of  rows  of  trees,  called  wind-breaks,  about  the  buildings. 

Winds,  usually  light,  but  on  many  days  heavy,  are  moving 
almost  continually  over  this  area,  with  variations  in  their  direc- 
tion to  every  point  of  the  compass.  From  the  hourly  records  of 
the  velocity  of  the  winds  as  measured  by  self-registering  anemo- 
meters, their  mean  rate  of  movement  is  found  to  be  about  six 
miles  and  a  half  per  hour  at  St.  Paul,  seven  miles  and  a  quar- 
ter at  Duluth,  and  nearly  nine  miles  at  St.  Vincent. 

With  these  means  it  will  be  instructive  to  compare  the  re- 
cords of  several  stations  in  other  parts  of  the  country,  which 


CLIMATE.  63 

show  for  Boston  a  mean  velocity  of  about  eleven  miles  per  hour; 
fievf  York  City,  nine  miles;  Chicago,  also  nine  miles;  St.  Louis, 
ten  miles  and  a  half;  New  Orleans  and  Denver,  each  about  seven 
miles;  and  San  Francisco,  about  nine  miles  per  hour. 

One  of  the  natural  results  of  the  air  currents  is  an  increase 
of  evaporation,  which  restores  directly  to  the  atmosphere  the 
greater  part  of  the  moisture  received  from  it  as  rain  and  dew.  A 
gift  of  power  from  the  winds  is  utilized  by  windmills,  many  of 
which  are  used  here  by  farmers  and  stockmen  for  pumping  water 
from  wells,  and  less  commonly  for  grinding  grain.  The  greatest 
gift  from  this  source,  shared  and  enjoyed  by  all,  is  the  exhila- 
rating freshness  and  healthfulness  of  our  climate,  making  outdoor 
life  and  labor  a  delight. 


Chapter  IV. 
FLORA  AND  FAUNA. 

UPON  every  portion  of  the  land  area  of  the  globe,  the 
flora,  or  assemblage  of  species  constituting  its  mantle 
of  vegetation,  is  a  very  sensitive  register  of  its  aggre- 
gate climatic  conditions  and  of  the  value  of  its  sou  for  agricul- 
ture. In  almost  an  equal  degree,  also,  the  fauna,  or  representa- 
tion of  animal  life,  testifies  what  the  capabilities  of  the  country 
will  be  for  pasturage  and  stock  raising,  and  what  crops  will  be 
successfully  cultivated  by  the  farmer,  even  before  the  coming  of 
the  axman  to  fell  the  forest  and  of  the  plowman  to  draw  the 
first  furrow  on  the  prairie.  The  vast  herds  of  buffalo  and  the 
frequent  droves  of  antelope  and  elk  which  roamed  in  Minnesota 
and  on  the  western  plains  previous  to  the  advent  of  the  white 
man  were  a  prognostication  of  the  present  wealth  of  cattle, 
horses,  and  sheep,  feeding  where  the  native  tall  game  and  the 
Indian  hunter  have  so  recently  vanished.  The  nutritious  and 
abundant  grasses  and  other  herbage  on  which  the  wild  herds  fed 
are  now  succeeded  by  luxuriant  fields  of  grain,  or,  growing  in  the 
yet  unbroken  sward,  they  now  fatten  the  beef,  rear  the  broncho 
and  thoroughbred  horses,  and  produce  the  •  wool,  which  are  ex- 
ported to  Chicago  and  more  eastern  markets. 

Hennepin,  Carver,  Pike,  and  other  early  explorers  of  this 
state,  occasionally  refer  to  some  of  its  forest  trees,  wild  fruits 
and  berries,  and  plants  used  for  food  or  medicine  by  the  Indians. 
Carver,  who  traveled  to  the  upper  part  of  the  Minnesota  river  in 
1767,  wrote  of  the  region  through  which  it  flows:  "Wild  rice 

i.-i  65 


66  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 

grows  here  in  great  abundance;  and  every  part  is  filled  with  trees 
bending  under  their  loads  of  fruits,  such  as  plums,  grapes,  and 
apples;  the  meadows  are  covered  with  hops,  and  many  sorts  of 
vegetables;  whilst  the  ground  is  stored  with  useful  roots,  with 
angelica,  spikenard,  and  groundnuts."  On  the  uplands  border- 
ing the  river  he  saw  "such  amazing  quantities  of  maples  that 
they  would  produce  sugar  sufficient  for  any  number  of  inhabi- 
tants." 

Though  no  strongly  defined  line  of  division  can  be  drawn 
between  different  portions  of  the  flora  and  fauna  of  the  country 
from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Rocky  mountains  and  from  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico  to  the  Arctic  sea,  it  is  nevertheless  true  that  great  con- 
trasts exist  between  the  eastern  region,  with  its  plentiful  rain- 
fall, and  the  dry  western  region,  as  also  between  the  almost  tropi- 
cal southern  margin  of  the  United  States  and  the  tundras  be- 
neath the  Arctic  Circle.  In  traveling  from  the  once  wholly  for- 
est-covered country  of  the  eastern  states  across  the  prairies  to  the 
far  western  dry  and  alkaline  portions  of  the  plains,  bearing  cacti 
and  sagebrush,  there  is  observed  a  gradual  change  in  the  flora, 
until  a  very  large  proportion  of  the  eastern  species  is  left  behind, 
and  their  places  are  taken  by  others  capable  of  enduring  more 
arid  conditions.  Likewise  in  going  from  St.  Augustine  or  New 
Orleans  to  Chicago,  St.  Paul,  Winnipeg,  and  Hudson  bay  and 
strait,  the  palmettoes,  the  evergreen  live  oak,  bald  cypress,  south- 
ern pines,  and  the  festooned  Tillandsia  or  "Spanish  moss,"  are 
left  in  passing  from  the  southern  to  the  northern  states,  and  in- 
stead we  find  in  the  region  of  the  Laurentian  lakes  the  bur  or 
mossy-cup  oak,  the  canoe  and  yellow  birches,  the  tamarack  or 
American  larch,  the  black  spruce,  balsam  fir,  and  the  white,  red, 
and  Banksian  pines,  while  farther  north  the  white  spruce,  be- 
ginning as  a  small  tree  in  northern  New  England  and  on  Lake 
Superior,  attains  a  majestic  growth  on  the  lower  Mackenzie  river 
in  a  more  northern  latitude  than  a  large  part  of  the  moss-covered 
Barren  Grounds  which  reach  thence  eastward  to  the  northern 
part  of  Hudson  bay  and  Labrador.  Thus,  although  no  grand 
topographic  barrier,  like  a  high  mountain  range,  impassable  to- 
species  of  the  lowlands,  divides  this  great  region,  the  transition 


FLORA  AND  FAUNA.  67 

from  a  humid  to  an  arid  climate  in  passing  westward,  and  the 
exchange  of  tropical  warmth  for  polar  cold  in  the  journey  from 
south  to  north,  are  accompanied  by  gradual  changes  of  the  flora 
by  which  in  the  aggregate  its  aspect  is  almost  completely  trans- 
formed. 

In  Minnesota,  forming  the  central  part  of  this  large  area, 
it  is  interesting  to  find  the  intermingling  and  the  boundaries  of 
species  whose  principal  homes  or  geographic  range  lie  respec- 
tively in  the  directions  of  the  four  cardinal  points,  east  and  west, 
south  and  north. 

FOREST   TREES   AND   SHRUBS. 

Many  species  of  trees  which  together  constitute  a  large  part 
of  the  eastern  forests  extend  to  Minnesota,  reaching  here  the 
western  or  northwestern  boundary  of  their  range.  Among  these 
are  the  basswood,  sugar  maple,  river  maple,  and  red  maple,  the 
three  species  of  white,  red,  and  black  ash,  the  red  or  slippery 
elm,  and  the  rock  or  cork  elm,  the  butternut,  the  white,  bur,  and 
black  oaks,  ironwood,  the  American  hornbeam,  the  yellow  birch, 
the  large-toothed  poplar,  white  and  red  pine,  arbor- vitae,  and 
the  red  cedar  or  savin.  A  few  species  of  far  northern  range 
find  in  this  district  their  southern  or  southwestern  limit,  namely, 
our  two  species  of  mountain  ash,  the  balsam  poplar,  Banksian  or 
jack  pine,  the  black  and  the  white  spruce,  balsam  fir,  and  tama- 
rack. 

Some  of  the  eastern  shrubs  which  make  the  undergrowth  of 
our  forests  also  attain  here  their  western  limits;  but  a  larger 
proportion  of  these  than  of  the  forest  trees  continues  west  along 
the  stream  courses  to  the  Saskatchewan  region,  the  upper  Mis- 
pouri,  and  the  Black  Hills.  Among  the  shrubs  that  reach  no 
farther  westward,  or  at  least  south  westward,  are  the  black  alder 
or  winterberry,  the  mountain  holly,  the  staghorn  sumach,  the 
hardback,  the  huckleberry,  the  dwarf  blueberry  and  the  tall  or 
swamp  blueberry,  leatherwood,  and  sweet  fern.  Shrubs  and 
woody  climbers  that  have  their  northern  or  northwestern  boun- 
dary in  this  state  include  the  prickly  ash,  staff  tree  or  shrubby 


68  MINNESOTA   IN   THKEE    CENTURIES. 

bittersweet,  froet  grape,  Virginian  creeper,  and  the  four  species 
of  round-leaved,  silky,  panicled,  and  alternate-leaved  cornel.  On 
the  other  hand,  shrubs  of  the  north  which  here  reach  their  south- 
ern or  'southwestern  limits  include  the  mountain  maple,  the  few- 
flowered  viburnum  and  withe-rod,  several  species  of  honeysuckle, 
the  Canada  blueberry,  the  cowberry,  Labrador  tea,  the  Canadian 
shepherdia,  sweet  gale,  the  dwarf  birch,  green  or  mountain  alder, 
beaked  hazelnut,  black  crowberry,  creeping  savin,  and  the  Am- 
erican yew  or  ground  hemlock. 

No  tree  of  exclusively  western  range  extends  east  to  Min- 
nesota, and  we  have  only  a  few  western  species  of  shrubs,  of 
which  the  most  noteworthy  are  the  alder-leaved  Juneberry  or  ser- 
vice berry  (in  Manitoba  commonly  called  "saskatoon"),  the  sil- 
verberry,  and  the  buffalo-berry.  To  these  are  to  be  added  the 
shrubby  evening  primrose,  which  occurs  chiefly  as  an  immigrant 
weed,  and  the  small-leaved  false  indigo,  which  abounds  on  moist 
portions  of  the  prairies.  The  silverberry,  usually  called  "wolf 
willow"  in  the  Eed  Eiver  valley,  is  common  or  abundant  there 
in  Norman  county  and  thence  northward,  forming  patches  ten 
to  twenty  rods  long  on  the  prairie,  growing  only  about  two  feet 
high  and  fruiting  plentifully,  but  in  thickets  becoming  five  to 
ten  feet  high.  Its  silvery  whitish  foliage  and  fruit  make  this 
shrub  a  very  conspicuous  and  characteristic  element  of  the  Eed 
Eiver  flora. 

Of  the  412  species  in  Sargent's  Catalogue  of  the  Forest 
Trees  of  North  America  [north  of  Mexico],  81  occur  indige- 
nously in  Minnesota;  but  eight  of  these,  though  becoming  trees 
in  some  portions  of  the  United  States,  do  not  here  attain  a 
treelike  size  or  habit  of  growth,  while  forty-eight  become  large 
trees,  at  least  forty  or  fifty  feet  high.  Besides  these,  about  125 
indigenous  species  of  shrubs  belong  to  this  flora,  making  its 
whole  number  of  species  of  woody  plants  about  206. 

LIMITATION  OF  THE  FOEEST. 

The  most  important  and  conspicuous  contrast  presented  by 
the  vegetation  covering  different  parts  of  Minnesota  is  its  divi- 


FLOEA  AND  FAUNA.  69 

sion  in  forest  and  prairie.  Forest  covers  the  northeastern  two- 
thirds  of  the  state,  approximately;  while  about  one-third,  lying 
at  the  south  and  southwest,  and  reaching  in  the  Red  Eiver  val- 
ley to  the  international  boundary,  is  prairie.  The  line  dividing 
these  areas,  having  an  almost  wholly  timbered  region  on  its 
northeast  side,  and  a  region  on  its  southwest  side  that  is  chiefly 
grassland,  without  trees  or  shrubs,  excepting  in  narrow  belts 
along  the  larger  streams  and  occasional  groves  beside  lakes,  runs 
as  follows.  Entering  the  state  from  the  north  about  fifteen  miles 
east  of  St.  Vincent,  it  extends  south-southeastward  to  Eed  Lake 
Falls;  thence  southeast  and  south,  to  the  east  end  of  Maple  lake; 
thence  southwesterly  along  this  lake,  and  from  it  south  to  the 
Sand  Hill  river;  thence  southeasterly  to  the  White  Earth  Agency; 
thence  southerly,  by  Detroit  and  Pelican  Eapids,  to  Fergus  Falls, 
which  is  situated  half  way  from  the  north  to  the  south  line  of 
the  state;  thence  southeasterly,  in  a  less  direct  and  regular  course, 
through  Douglas,  Stearns,  Meeker,  McLeod  and  Sibley  counties, 
to  the  Minnesota  river,  and  along  that  stream  to  Mankato  and 
South  Bend;  thence  easterly  by  Janesville,  Waterville,  and  Mor- 
ristown,  to  Faribault;  thence  northerly,  turning  backward,  to 
Minneapolis  and  Anoka,  the  loop  thus  formed,  inclosing  Wright, 
Carver,  Scott,  and  Le  Sueur  counties  with  parts  of  adjacent  coun- 
ties, being  the  boundary  of  the  area  well  known  as  the  Big 
Woods;  and  thence  easterly,  passing  through  Eamsey  and 
Washington  counties  to  Stillwater  and  Hudson,  where  it  en- 
ters Wisconsin. 

The  Big  Woods  are  principally  made  up  of  the  following 
species  of  trees,  arranged  by  Prof.  N".  H.  Winchell  in  the  esti- 
mated order  of  their  abundance;  white  or  American  elm,  bass- 
wood,  sugar  maple,  black  and  bur  oaks,  butternut,  slippery  or 
red  elm,  soft  or  silver  maple,  bitternut,  white  and  black  ash, 
ironwood,  wild  plum,  Juneberry,  American  crab-apple,  common 
poplar  or  aspen,  large-toothed  poplar,  tamarack  (in  swamps),  box 
elder,  black  cherry,  cottonwood  (beside  rivers  and  lakes),  water 
beech,  willows,  hackberry,  paper  or  canoe  birch,  yellow  birch, 
white  oak,  and  red  cedar.  Farther  northward  white,  red  and 
jack  pines,  black  and  white  spruce,  balsam  fir  and  arbor-vitae 


70  MINNESOTA   IN   THREE    CENTURIES. 

are  conspicuous  in  the  forest,  intermingled  with  deciduous  trees. 
Its  shurbs  include  prickly  ash,  smooth  sumach,  frost  grape, 
Virginian  creeper,  climbing  bittersweet,  red  and  black  raspber- 
ries, chokeberry,  prickly  and  smooth  gooseberries,  black  currant, 
and  species  of  cornel,  wolfberry,  honeysuckle,  elder,  viburnum, 
and  hazelnut. 

Groves  of  a  few  acres,  or  sometimes  a  hundred  acres  or 
more,  occur  here  and  there  upon  the  prairie  region  beside  lakes, 
and  a  narrow  line  of  timber  usually  borders  the  streams;  but  in 
southwestern  Minnesota  many  lakes  and  creeks,  and  even  por- 
tions of  the  course  of  large  streams,  have  neither  bush  nor  tree 
in  sight,  and  occasionally  none  is  visible  in  a  view  which  ranges 
from  five  to  ten  miles  in  all  directions. 

The  contour  of  the  prairie  is  as  varied  as  that  of  the  wooded 
region.  Both  these  regions,  excepting  the  very  flat  bed  of  the 
ancient  Lake  Agassiz  now  forming  the  broad  valley  plain  of  the 
Red  river,  have  an  undulating,  rolling  and  hilly  surface,  in  some 
tracts  presenting  a  very  rough  contour  of  knolls,  hills,  and  ridges 
of  morainic  drift  that  rise  steeply  25  to  100  feet  or  more  above 
the  intervening  hollows.  It  must  also  be  added  that  the  ma- 
terial forming:  the  surface  generally  throughout  this  state,  whether 
forest  or  prairie,  is  closely  alike,  being  glacial  and  modi- 
fied drift,  with  no  important  differences  such  as  might  cause  the 
growth  of  forest  in  one  region  and  of  only  grass  and  herbage 
in  the  other. 

Since  there  is  so  great  similarity  of  the  two  regions  in 
their  topographic  features  and  geologic  formations,  including 
the  drift  deposits  which  generally  conceal  the  bed  rocks,  we  must 
ascribe  the  limitation  of  the  forest  to  other  causes.  The  usu- 
ally abrupt  transition  from  the  timbered  to  the  prairie  country 
and  the  general  absence  of  trees  and  shrubs  in  the  prairie  region 
have  been  often  attributed  to  the  effect  of  fires.  Through  many 
centuries  previous  to  the  agricultural  settlement  of  the  country, 
fires  almost  annually  swept  over  these  vast  prairies,  generally 
destroying  all  seedling  trees  and  shrubs,  and  sometimes  extend- 
ing the  border  of  the  prairie  by  adding  tracts  from  which  the 
forest  had  been  burned.  Late  in  autumn  and  again  in  the  spring 


FLOKA  AND  FAUNA.  71 

the  dead  grass  of  the  prairie  burned  very  rapidly,  so  that  a  fire 
within  a  few  days  sometimes  spread  fifty  or  a  hundred  miles. 
The  groves  that  remained  in  the  prairie  region  were  usually  in  a 
more  or  less  sheltered  position,  being  on  the  borders  of  lakes 
and  streams,  and  sometimes  nearly  surrounded  by  .them,  while 
areas  that  could  not  be  reached  by  fires,  as  islands,  were  al- 
most always  wooded. 

Yet  it  does  not  appear  that  fires  in  the  western  portion  of 
the  great  forest  region  of  the  United  States  are  more  frequent 
or  destructive  than  eastward;  and  our  inquiry  must  go  back  a 
step  further  to  ask  why  fires  east  of  the  Appalachian  mountains 
had  nowhere  exterminated  the  forest,  while  so  extensive  areas  of 
prairie  have  been  guarded  and  maintained,  though  not  appar- 
ently produced,  by  prairie  fires  here.  Among  the  conditions 
which  have  led  to  this  difference  we  must  undoubtedly  place  first 
the  greater  amount  and  somewhat  more  equable  distribution 
throughout  the  year  of  rain  in  the  eastern  states. 

Evidence  that  an  increase  of  moisture  in  the  ground  suf- 
fices to  produce  a  heavy  growth  of  forest  trees  in  a  principally 
prairie  region,  even  without  protection  from  the  incursions  of 
prairie  fires,  is  afforded  by  the  bluffs  of  the  opposite  sides  of 
the  valley  of  the  Minnesota  river.  Timber  is  found  in  a  nearly 
continuous  though  often  very  narrow  strip  bordering  this  stream 
through  almost  its  entire  course,  but  generally  leaving  much  of 
the  bottomland  treeless.  The  bluffs  on  the  northeast  side  of  the 
bottomland  have  for  the  most  part  only  thin  and  scanty  groves 
or  scattered  trees.  The  southwestern  bluffs,  on  the  contrary,  are 
heavily  wooded  through  Blue  Earth  and  Brown  counties,  except- 
ing two  or  three  miles  at  New  Ulm.  They  also  are  frequently 
well  timbered  in  Eedwood  and  Yellow  Medicine  counties,  but  in 
Lac  qui  Parle  county  they  are  mostly  treeless  and  have  only 
occasional  groves.  The  greater  abundance  of  timber  on  the 
southwestern  bluffs  appears  to  be  due  to  their  being  less  exposed 
to  the  sun,  and  therefore  more  moist,  than  the  bluffs  at  the 
opposite  side  of  the  valley.  Above  Montevideo  the  timber  is 
mainly  restricted  to  a  narrow  belt  beside  the  river  and  to  tri- 
butary valleys  and  ravines. 


72  MINNESOTA    IN    THREE    CENTURIES. 

PRAIRIE  GRASSES  AND  FLOWERS. 

About  a  hundred  and  twenty-five  indigenous  species  of  gras- 
ses have  been  identified  in  the  flora  of  this  state.  While  all  of 
these  are  found  in  our  prairie  region,  many  also  grow  in  favor- 
able situations  throughout  the  mainly  wooded  area. 

Besides  the  grasses,  all  parts  of  the  state,  and  most  notice- 
ably the  prairies,  bear  multitudes  of  native  flowers  of  showy 
red,  purple,  blue,  yellow,  and  orange  hues,  and  pure  white,  which 
bloom  from  early  spring  till  the  severe  frosts  of  autumn.  Ear- 
liest of  all  is  the  pasque  flower,  named  for  its  blooming  at  Eas- 
ter, common  over  all  the  prairie  region.  With  this,  or  later 
in  the  spring,  are  other  species  of  windflowers,  the  wild  colum- 
bine, indigenous  buttercups,  violets,  and  many  more. 

During  the  summer  the  prairies  are  decked  with  species  of 
larkspur,  false  indigo,  prairie  clover,  vetch,  rose,  evening  prim- 
rose, blazing  star,  aster,  golden-rod,  sunflower,  harebell,  gentian, 
phlox,  gerardia,  lily,  spiderwort,  etc.  Often  I  nave  seen  large 
tracts  of  the  natural  prairie  yellow  with  sunflowers  or  golden- 
rod;  other  areas  purple  with  prairie  clover,  blazing  star,  or 
gerardia,  or  blue  with  asters;  and  still  others  white  with  the 
profusely  flowering  northern  galium. 

Some  of  the  species  of  aster  and  golden-rod  continue  in 
bloom  from  midsummer  until  the  first  severe  frosts.  Another 
very  beautiful  flower,  blooming  latest  in  the  autumn,  is  the 
fringed  gentian,  which  is  common  or  frequent  in  both  the  wood- 
ed and  prairie  regions. 

THE  STATE  FLOWER. 

Minnesota  has  six  species  of  the  genus  Cypripedium,  which 
has  been  chosen  as  our  state  flower,  named  from  Greek  words 
meaning  the  shoe  of  Venus.  This  name,  and  also  the  common 
English  and  American  popular  names  of  this  genus,  as  lady's 
slipper,  moccasin  flower,  and  Indian  shoe,  refer  to  the  saccate 
and  somewhat  shoe-like  form  of  the  most  conspicuous  petal  (in 
this  Orchis  family  called  the  lip)  of  the  flower. 


FLORA  AND  FAUNA.  73 

About  twenty-five  species  of  Cypripedium  are  known,  be- 
longing to  the  north  temperate  zone  and  reaching  south  into 
Mexico  and  northern  India.  They  are  perennial  herbs  with 
perfect,  irregular  flowers,  which  are  solitary  or  few. 

All  the  species  belonging  to  the  northern  United  States 
and  Canada,  east  of  the  Rocky  mountains,  are  found  in  this 
state.  These  are  the  ram's  head  moccasin  flower,  with  red  and 
whitish  veiny  lip;  a  second  species,  bearing  small  white  flowers;  a 
third,  having  small  yellow  flowers;  another,  with  much  larger 
yellow  flowers;  a  fifth  species,  with  most  showy,  large  flowers,  of 
mingled  white  and  pink  purple  color;  and  the  sixth,  named 
the  stemless  moccasin  flower,  with  leaves  on  the  ground  and 
a  large  rose-purple  flower  on  an  erect  scape  nearly  a  foot  high. 
These  plants  grow  preferably  in  cold  and  moist  woods  and  in 
bogs,  flowering  from  May  to  July.  The  first  and  second  are 
rare  or  infrequent;  but  the  other  four  are  frequent  or  common, 
especially  northward. 

GAME  AND  FUR-BEARING  ANIMALS. 

The  buffalo,  or  American  bison,  formerly  ranged  in  great 
herds  over  the  prairies  of  Minnesota,  but  this  noble  species  has 
now  been  almost  exterminated.  Instead  of  its  countless  num- 
bers upon  the  western  plains  only  forty  years  ago,  it  is  now  re- 
duced to  herds  of  only  a  few  hundred  survivors  in  the  Yellow- 
stone National  Park  and  in  northwestern  Canada.  In  1823 
thousands  of  buffalos  were  encountered  by  the  expedition  of 
Major  Long  in  the  vicinity  of  lakes  Big  Stone  and  Traverse;  and 
their  herds  roamed  in  southwestern  Minnesota  and  in  the  Red 
river  valley  until  1850  or  somewhat  later.  Stragglers  are  said 
to  have  been  seen  in  the  southwest  part  of  this  state  as  late  as 
1869. 

The  moose,  our  largest  species  of  the  deer  family,  still  ex- 
ists in  considerable  numbers  in  the  northern  woods;  but  the  elk, 
which  once  was  common  or  frequent,  especially  along  the  borders 
of  the  great  prairie  area,  is  very  rare,  remaining  only  at  the  far 
north,  or  perhaps  this  species  has  quite  disappeared  with  the 
advance  of  the  white  settlements. 


74  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENT U I  Mi 

Our  other  Minnesota  species  of  deer  are  the  woodland  cari- 
bou, or  American  reindeer,  still  found  sparingly  in  the  region 
north  and  northwest  of  Lake  Superior;  the  common  or  Virginia 
deer,  of  wider  range  and  greater  numbers,  which  was  once  com- 
mon throughout  this  state,  but  now  is  found  only  in  its  north- 
eastern half;  and  the  pronghorn  antelope,  which  fed  in  small 
flocks  on  our  southwestern  prairies,  but  was  driven  farther  west 
many  years  ago. 

The  hare  family  is  represented  in  western  Minnesota  by  the 
large  prairie  hare,  called  the  jack  rabbit;  and  by  the  common 
rabbit  and  the  varying  hare,  or  white  rabbit,  these  species  being 
abundant  throughout  the  state. 

Six  species  of  squirrel,  the  gray,  the  fox  squirrel,  the  red  or 
chickaree,  the  common  chipmunk,  the  Rocky  mountain  or  Asiatic 
chipmunk,  and  the  flying  squirrel,  are  found,  but  not  very  plen- 
tifully, in  the  northern  wooded  part  of  the  state.  The  most  com- 
mon species  is  the  chickaree,  whose  range  reaches  southward 
through  the  Big  Woods,  and  west  along  the  timbered  valleys  of 
the  prairie  country  to  Big  Stone  lake. 

The  Canada  porcupine  or  hedgehog  is  found  sparingly 
northeastward,  having  nearly  the  same  geographic  range  as  the 
pine  forests. 

In  the  same  northeastern  region  the  black  bear  is  still 
found  somewhat  frequent,  though  persistently  hunted  by  the 
farmer  and  sportsman,  not  less  for  the  glory  of  his  capture  than 
for  his  meat  and  fur. 

Beavers,  most  highly  valued  among  all  our  fur-bearing  ani- 
mals, are  now  nearly  extinct  here,  but  were  formerly  plentiful 
throughout  the  greater  part  of  the  state.  They  were  most  abun- 
dant in  the  northern  forests,  but  also  frequent  or  common  along 
the  wooded  stream  courses  of  the  adjoining  prairie  country. 
Their  skins  were  the  chief  staple  of  the  fur  trade,  which  was  the 
incentive  of  the  earliest  exploration  and  was  the  main  industry 
ami  commercial  interest  of  this  region  during  nearly  two  hund- 
red years. 

Other  species  of  our  fauna  which  are  hunted  or  trapped  for 
their  furs  are  the  otter,  mink,  muskrat,  racoon,  marten  or  sable, 
skunk,  badger,  fox,  wolverine,  wolf,  and  wild  cat. 


FLORA  AND  FAOTA.  75 


THE  GOPHERS  AND  THE  STATE   SOBRIQUET. 

Minnesota  receives  its  most  widely  known  sobriquet,  "The 
Gopher  State/'  from  the  striped  gopher,  a  common  species 
throughout  our  prairie  region.  Another  and  larger  species  of  the 
same  genus,  the  gray  gopher,  was  formerly  abundant  in  the 
southern  part  of  the  state,  but  has  been  mostly  exterminated 
since  the  land  became  occupied  by  farms.  The  pouched  or 
pocket  gopher,  belonging  to  another  genus,  seldom  seen  but 
known  by  the  little  heaps  of  fresh  earth  thrown  up  where  it  bur- 
rows, was  also  formerly  plentiful  southward  and  westward. 

The  peculiar  origin  of  this  nickname  of  the  state,  whence 
its  people  too  are  often  called  "Gophers,"  has  been  recorded  by 
the  late  Judge  Charles  E.  Flandrau  in  his  History  of  Minnesota. 
An  inconsiderate  enthusiasm  in  1857  led  the  voters  to  pledge 
the  credit  of  the  territory  and  future  state  in  vast  issues  of  bonds 
for  building  railroads  here,  the  limit  of  the  public  indebtedness 
so  authorized  being  set  at  $5,000,000.  This  popular  infatuation 
was  deeply  regretted  afterwards  and  became  during  many  years 
a  reproach  and  dishonor  to  the  otherwise  fair  fame  of  the  state, 
because  it  could  not  redeem  the  bonds  so  issued,  until  at  last 
their  payment  was  adjusted  in  1881.  Why  the  nickname  came 
into  vogue  is  told  by  Judge  Flandrau  as  follows: 

The  opponents  of  the  measure  published  a  cartoon  to  bring  the  sub- 
ject into  ridicule,  which  was  very  generally  circulated  throughout  the 
State,  but  failed  to  check  the  enthusiasm  in  favor  of  the  proposition. 
This  cartoon  represented  ten  men  in  a  line  with  heads  bowed  down  with 
the  weight  of  a  bag  of  gold  hung  about  their  necks  marked  "$10,000." 
They  were  supposed  to  represent  the  members  of  the  Legislature  who 
had  been  bribed  to  pass  the  act,  and  were  called  "primary  directors." 
On  their  backs  was  a  railroad  track,  upon  which  was  a  train  of  cars 
drawn  by  nine  gophers,  the  three  gophers  in  the  lead  proclaiming,  "We 
have  no  cash,  but  will  give  you  our  drafts."  Attached  to  the  rear  of 
the  train  was  a  wheelbarrow  with  a  barrel  on  it  marked  "gin,"  followed 
by  the  devil  in  great  glee,  with  his  thumb  at  his  nose.  In  the  train 
were  the  advocates  of  the  bill,  flying  a  flag  bearing  these  words: 
"Gopher  train;  excursion  train;  members  of  extra  session  of  Legislature 
free.  We  develop  the  resources  of  the  country,"  and  over  this  was  a 
smaller  flag  with  the  words.  "The  $5,000,000  Loan  Bill." 


76  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 

During  two  or  three  years  previous  the  selection  of  a  suit- 
able sobriquet  for  the  state  had  been  debated,  some  proposing  to 
call  it  the  Beaver  State.  The  cartoon  decided  the  question  and 
gave  the  nickname  of  "Gopher,"  which  Minnesota  and  her  people 
have  ever  since  retained. 

STATE   PUBLICATIONS. 

Numerous  reports  relating  to  the  flora  and  fauna  have  been 
published  by  the  Geological  and  Natural  History  Survey  of  this 
state.  Some  of  these  are  of  chief  interest  and  value  to  specialists, 
or  to  students  of  botany  and  zoology;  but  the  following  may  be 
mentioned  with  recommendation  for  perusal  by  the  general 
reader. 

A  Catalogue  of  the  Flora  of  Minnesota,  compiled  by  the 
present  writer,  in  193  pages,  with  a  map  of  the  forest  and  prai- 
rie areas  and  showing  also  approximate  geographic  limits  of 
some  of  our  principal  trees  and  shrubs,  was  published  in  1884 
in  the  Twelfth  Annual  Report  of  the  Survey.  This  catalogue 
enumerates  1,650  species,  of  which  138  are  introduced  plants, 
not  originally  found  in  the  native  flora.  The  geographic  range 
and  the  degree  of  abundance  or  rarity  of  each  species  are  noted. 

The  Metaspemnae  of  the  Minnesota  Valley,  an  elaborate 
monograph  on  the  higher  seed-producing  plants  native  to  the 
valley  or  drainage  basin  of  the  Minnesota  river,  by  Prof.  Con- 
way  MacMillan,  in  826  pages,  was  published  in  1892  as  the  first 
report  in  the  Botanical  Series  of  this  Survey.  Large  parts  of  the 
Big  Woods  and  of  the  prairie  region  are  included  in  the  area  of 
this  report,  which  catalogues  1,174  indigenous  species  and  va- 
rieties of  plants  growing  there. 

Two  later  reports  in  this  series,  of  great  interest  to  ordinary 
readers  as  well  as  to  scientists,  are  Minnesota  Plant  Life,  by  Pro- 
fessor MacMillan,  in  568  pages,  with  many  fine  illustrations  from 
drawings  and  photographs,  published  in  1899;  and  Minnesota 
Plant  Diseases,  by  Prof.  E.  M.  Freeman,  in  432  pages,  also  very 
fully  illustrated,  relating  mostly  to  fungi,  blights,  mildews,  and 
niste,  published  in  1905. 


FLORA  AND  FAUNA.  77 

Other  large  volumes  in  the  same  series  are  entitled  Minne- 
sota Botanical  Studies,  comprising  many  papers  and  reports  of 
special  investigations  by  professors  and  students  in  this  depart- 
ment of  the  State  University. 

The  late  Prof.  Clarence  L.  Herrick,  in  his  excellent  report, 
The  Mammals  of  Minnesota,  299  pages,  published  in  1892,  des- 
cribed sixty-three  species  of  mammals  known  in  this  state.  Six 
of  these  species  are  noted  as  chiefly  of  more  northern  geographic 
range;  eight  are  western  species;  twenty-five  range  from  Min- 
nesota eastward;  and  twenty-four  are  of  wide  general  distribution 
in  North  America.  Twenty-one  species  are  stated  to  be  of  eco- 
nomic value;  and  twenty-four  may  be  regarded  as  injurious  to 
the  agriculturist.  Eight  species,  making  up  an  eighth  part  of 
the  mammalian  fauna,  are  reported  as  rapidly  approaching  ex- 
tinction. 

With  the  first  report  of  the  State  Zoologist,  Prof.  Henry  F. 
Nachtrieb,  a  very  valuable  work  by  the  late  Dr.  P.  L.  Hatch, 
Notes  on  the  Birds  of  Minnesota,  with  Specific  Characters,  in 
487  pages,  was  published  also  in  1892.  Three  hundred  and  three 
species  of  birds  are  described  as  known  to  occur  in  this  state. 
Some  are  only  very  rarely  found  here,  and  many  are  birds  of 
passage,  spending  only  a  part  of  the  year  in  Minnesota,  either 
wintering  at  the  south  or  migrating  far  northward  for  the  sum- 
mer. 

Dr.  Thomas  S.  Roberts,  of  Minneapolis,  contributing  a  pa- 
per on  "The  Winter  Birds  of  Minnesota"  in  the  Ninth  Annual 
Report  of  the  Geological  and  Natural  History  Survey,  for  the 
year  1880,  enumerated  twenty-three  species  observed  here  as  per- 
manent residents,  nine  others  which  breed  here  and  sometimes  re- 
main throughout  the  year,  fourteen  which  are  winter  visitants 
from  the  north,  and  six  which  are  only  very  exceptionally  found 
here  in  the  winter,  making  in  all  fifty-two  species.  During 
thirty  years  Dr.  Roberts  has  been  a  field  observer  and  photo- 
grapher of  our  bird  fauna,  and  he  is  preparing  a  most  complete 
illustrated  report  for  publication  by  the  state. 

A  Preliminary  Report  on  the  Fishes  of  Minnesota,  by  Prof. 
Ulysses  0.  Cox,  of  Mankato,  in  93  pages,  was  published  in  the 


78  MINNESOTA   IN   THREE   CENTURIES. 

Zoological  Series  of  the  state  survey  in  1897,  enumerating  and 
describing  a  hundred  and  four  species  and  six  additional  varieties 
of  fishes  known  in  our  lakes  and  streams. 

Hon.  Wallace  B.  Douglas  well  remarks,  "In  the  future,  from 
a  sportsman's  or  tourist's  standpoint,  when  game  as  a  whole  must 
diminish,  the  wealth  of  Minnesota  will  lie  in  its  lakes  and  fish." 


Chapter  V. 

THE  RED  MEN. 

ORIGIN  AND  ANTIQUITY  OF  THE  RED  RACE. 

THE  aboriginal  American  people  seem  to  most  students 
worthy  of  classification  as  a  distinct  race,  although  it 
may  be  admitted  that  they  are  most  nearly  allied  with 
the  Mongoloid  or  yellow  race.  In  respect  to  these  definite  terms 
of  color,  it  should  be  noted  that  they  signify  merely  very  swarthy 
complexions,  tinged  in  Asia  more  or  less  with  yellow,  and  in 
America  with  a  reddish  or  copper  hue.  The  American  race,  in 
all  its  diversity,  from  the  Eskimos  and  the  savage  tribes  of  the 
United  States  to  the  half-civilized  ancient  Aztecs  and  Peruvians, 
and  to  the  almost  gigantic  but  squalid  Patagonians  and  the 
Fuegians,  has,  beneath  the  tribal  variations,  much  resemblance 
in  form  and  features,  and  in  the  general  structure  and  spirit,  if 
we  may  so  call  it,  of  the  many  and  diverse  languages.  Amid  the 
variations  of  physical  types  and  linguistic  stocks,  all  the  Ameri- 
can peoples  show  evidences  of  interrelationship  as  a  group.  They 
are  more  allied  with  one  another  than  with  either  of  the  three 
chief  races,  inhabiting  the  other  side  of  the  earth. 

Whenever  Japanese  or  other  Asiatic  sailors  have  been  driven 
by  storms  to  the  North  Pacific  shores  of  our  continent,  as  is 
known  to  have  happened  many  times  during  hundreds  of  years 
past,  the  survivors  have  been  mingled  with  the  American  tribes, 
without  perceptible  effect,  beyond  perhaps  a  few  myths  or  some 
advancement  in  making  weapons,  utensils,  or  ornaments.  There 
have  also  been  frequent  traverses  of  Bering  strait  by  the  Eski- 

79 


80  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 

mos  and  their  Asiatic  neighbors,  within  the  historic  period,  but 
without  notable  migration  in  either  direction  to  modify  the  ra- 
cial characteristics  of  either  continent. 

The  original  peopling  of  America  appears  to  have  taken 
place  far  longer  ago  by  migration  from  northeastern  Asia  dur- 
ing the  early  Quaternary  or  Ozarkian  epoch  of  general  uplift  of 
northern  regions  which  immediately  preceded  the  Ice  Age,  and 
which  continued  through  the  early  and  probably  the  greater  part 
of  that  age.  Then  land  undoubtedly  extended  across  the  pres- 
ent area  of  Bering  sea. 

During  Ozarkian  time  and  the  long  early  part  of  the  Glac- 
ial period,  wandering  tribes,  migrating  for  better  food  supplies 
or  to  escape  from  enemies,  could  have  crossed  on  land  from  Asia 
to  Alaska,  and  could  advance  south  to  Patagonia  and  Tierra  del 
Fuego,  occupying  all  the  ground  (excepting  the  ice-covered  area) 
that  is  now,  or  was  in  pre-Columbian  times,  the  home  of  the 
American  race.  It  is  not  improbable,  too,  that  another  line  of 
very  ancient  migration,  in  the  same  early  Pleistocene  or  Quater- 
nary time,  passed  from  western  Europe  by  the  Faroe  islands, 
Iceland,  and  Greenland,  to  our  continent. 

An  objection  to  migrations  of  primitive  man  during  the 
Glacial  period  may  be  based  on  the  ice-covered  condition  of 
North  America  at  that  time,  this  continent  being  enveloped  by  an 
ice-sheet  upon  its  northern  half,  northward  from  the  Ohio  and 
Missouri  rivers,  excepting  the  greater  part  of  Alaska.  If  the 
preglacial  and  early  Glacial  altitude  of  the  continent  had  been 
the  same  as  now,  this  objection  would  be  valid,  and  we  should 
bf  obliged  to  refer  these  ancient  migrations  wholly  to  a  time  be- 
fore the  accumulation  of  the  North  American  ice-sheet,  which 
reached  both  east  and  west  beyond  the  present  coast  lines.  But 
the  depths  of  fjords  and  submarine  continuations  of  river  valleys 
show  that  the  land  elevation  before  the  Glacial  period,  and 
through  the  greater  part  of  that  period,  was  at  least  2,000  to  3,- 
000  feet  greater  than  now.  During  the  epoch  of  ice  accumula- 
tion and  culmination,  its  boundaries  probably  failed  to  reach 
generally  to  the  coast  line  of  that  time.  Along  the  sea  border, 
where  food  supplies  such  as  savages  rely  upon  are  most  easily 


INDIAN   CLAY   VESSEL. 


INDIAN  WAR  IMPLEMENTS. 


THE  EED  MEN.  81 

obtained,  preglacial  and  Glacial  man  may  have  freely  advanced 
on  a  land  margin  skirting  the  inland  ice,  as  along  the  present 
borders  of  Greenland.  It  was  only  in  the  Champlain  epoch,  clos- 
ing the  Glacial  period,  that  the  ice-burdened  lands  sank  to 
their  present  altitude  or  lower,  bringing  the  edges  of  the  ice- 
sheet  beneath  the  encroaching  sea. 

It  is  impossible  to  define  closely  the  date  of  man's  coming 
into  America,  but  it  is  known  to  have  preceded  the  end  of  the 
Glacial  period.  In  the  late  Glacial  gravel  deposits  of  the  Dela- 
ware valley  at  Trenton,  N.  J.,  under  a  beach  ridge  of  gravel  and 
sand  formed  by  the  Glacial  Lake  Iroquois  in  western  New  York, 
in  the  loess  deposited  during  the  lowan  stage  of  glaciation  at 
Lansing,  Kansas,  and  also  in  the  loess  of  Nebraska  and  Iowa,  in 
late  Glacial  valley  drift  of  Ohio,  in  a  similar  flood-plain  of  the 
Mississippi  river  at  Little  Falls  in  central  Minnesota,  and  in  a 
beach  ridge  of  the  Glacial  Lake  Agassiz  in  northwestern  Mani- 
toba, geologists  have  found  traces  of  man's  presence  during  the 
decline  and  closing  scenes  of  the  Ice  Age.  As  was  noted  in  a 
preceding  chapter  of  this  volume,  the  continental  ice-sheet  was 
finally  melted  away  probably  between  6,000  and  10,000  years 
ago;  but  man  had  doubtless  first  come  to  occupy  this  continent 
at  a  much  earlier  time. 

The  many  divergent  branches  of  the  American  people  and 
their  remarkable  progress  toward  civilization  in  Mexico,  Central 
America,  and  Peru,  before  the  discovery  by  Columbus,  indicate 
for  this  division  of  mankind  probably  almost  as  great  antiquity 
as  in  the  eastern  hemisphere,  where  many  lines  of  evidence  point 
to  the  origin  and  dispersion  of  men  far  longer  ago  than  the  six 
to  ten  thousand  years  which  measure  the  Postglacial  period.  Al- 
though we  are  unable  to  define  the  date,  in  thousands  of  years  of 
antiquity,  when  the  American  race  came  into  its  heritage,  we  may 
paradoxically  say  that  it  came  here  before  it  was  differentiated 
from  the  primordial  stock  of  mankind  so  as  to  be  racially  distinct. 

Concerning  the  origin  of  the  racial  characters  after  the 
epoch  of  immigration  to  America,  through  the  influences  of  cli- 
mate, food,  and  other  conditions  of  the  New  World,  the  most  ac- 
ceptable view  is  set  forth  by  the  late  Major  Powell,  the  founder 

L-4 


82  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTUEIES. 

of  the  United  States  Bureau  of  Ethnology,  in  regard  to  the  de- 
velopment of  culture  by  this  race.     He  wrote  as  follows: 

We  are  forced  to  the  conclusion  that  the  industrial  arts  of  the 
American  aborigines  began  with  the  simplest  tools  of  stone,  bone,  and 
other  material  here  in  America  itself,  and  that  their  development  to  that 
high  degree  of  excellence  attained  by  the  tribes  at  the  time  of  their  dis- 
covery was  indigenous.  The  industrial  arts  of  America  were  born  in 
America.  America  was  inhabited  by  tribes  at  the  time  of  the  beginning 
of  industrial  arts;  so  that  if  we  are  to  find  a  region  or  a  people,  from 
which  the  tribes  of  America  sprang,  in  the  eastern  hemisphere,  we  can 
only  conclude  that  they  left  the  Old  World  before  they  had  learned 
to  make  stone  knives,  spears,  and  arrowheads,  or  at  least  when  they 
knew  the  art  only  in  its  crudest  state.  Thus,  primitive  man  has  been 
here  ever  since  the  invention  of  the  stone  knife  and  the  stone  hammer. 
How  much  longer,  we  cannot  say. 

Development  of  the  physical  and  mental  characteristics  of 
the  American  race  doubtless  went  forward  in  companionship  with 
the  development  of  their  industries,  tribal  organization,  and  ad- 
vancement toward  civilization.  All  these  changes,  from  a  very 
low  condition  of  savagery  to  semi-civilization  in  some  districts, 
great  diversity  of  tribal  and  national  life,  high  skill  in  various 
handicrafts,  and  general  contrast  with  the  races  of  the  Old  World, 
took  place,  as  I  believe,  after  the  aboriginal  migration  to  Am- 
erica. The  origin  and  specialization  of  the  red  race  thus  occu- 
pied probably  almost  as  long  time  as  the  differentiation  of  the 
black,  yellow,  and  white  races;  and  their  establishment  was  com- 
plete long  before  the  pyramids  of  Egypt  were  built,  and,  indeed, 
long  before  the  Aryan  invaders  of  western  Europe,  in  the  later 
part  of  the  Ice  Age,  brought  the  Neolithic  arts,  cultivated  plants, 
domestic  animals,  and  the  Indo-European  languages. 

PRIMITIVE  MAN  IN  THE  ICE  AGE  AT  LITTLE  PALLS. 

The  first  discovery  of  artificial  quartz  chips  at  Little  Falls 
referable  to  the  Glacial  period  was  by  Prof.  N.  H.  Winchell 
thirty  years  ago,  as  published  in  his  Sixth  Annual  Report  of  the 
Geological  Survey  of  Minnesota,  for  1877.  This  was  only  one 
or  two  years  after  the  earliest  American  discoveries  of  stone  im- 


THE  EED  MEN.  83 

plements  in  glacial  pravels,  by  Dr.  Charles  C.  Abbott  at  Tren- 
ton, N.  J.  In  1878  the  late  Miss  Franc  E.  Babbitt,  of  Lit- 
tle Falls,  began  careful  collection  and  study  of  the  abundant 
quartz  flakes  and  infrequent  implements  occurring  there  in  the 
upper  part  of  the  Mississippi  valley  gravel  plain;  and  her  ob- 
servations and  conclusions  were  published  in  1883  in  a  paper 
read  before  the  American  Association  for  the  Advancement  of 
Science,  which  met  that  year  in  Minneapolis.  Four  years  later 
this  subject  was  presented  before  the  Boston  Society  of  Natural 
History  by  the  present  writer;  and  in  1889  my  discussion  there 
given  was  reprinted  by  Prof.  G.  Frederick  Wright  in  The  Ice 
Age  in  North  America,.  Again  in  1901  detailed  investigations 
and  geological  review  of  the  evidences  of  man  at  Little  Falls  in 
the  latest  stage  of  the  Ice  Age  were  made  by  the  late  Hon.  J.  V. 
Brower  and  Professor  Winchell,  their  studies  being  published  in 
1902  by  Brower  in  a  finely  illustrated  memoir  of  126  pages,  en- 
titled Kakabikansing  (an  Ojibway  name  signifying  Little  Falls). 

It  is  found  that  at  many  places  in  and  near  Little  Falls  the 
glacial  flood-plain  contains  flakes  of  white  quartz,  evidently 
artifically  chipped  in  making  implements,  to  depths  of  three  or 
four  feet.  The  Mississippi  here  flows  over  an  outcrop  of  Huron- 
ian  slate,  and  the  same  formation  is  also  exposed  by  the  Little 
Elk  river  near  its  mouth,  on  the  west  side  of  the  Mississippi 
three  miles  north  of  Little  Falls.  Veins  of  white  quartz  occur 
in  the  slate  at  both  these  localities,  and  were  doubtless  the  source 
of  that  used  by  man  here,  during  the  recession  of  the  continental 
ice-sheet,  for  the  manufacture  of  his  quartz  implements. 

The  Mississippi  valley  drift  plain  here  is  similar  in  ma- 
terial and  origin  with  the  modified  drift  terraces  of  the  valleys 
of  the  Merrimack,  Connecticut,  and  other  rivers  in  New  Eng- 
land. These  watercourses  extending  southward  from  the  region 
that  was  covered  by  the  ice-sheet  became  the  avenues  of  drainage 
from  it  during  its  retreat.  A  part  of  the  drift  which  had  been 
contained  in  the  lower  portion  of  the  ice  was  then  washed  away 
by  the  streams  formed  on  the  ice  in  its  rapid  melting  and  was 
deposited  as  modified  drift,  forming  layers  of  gravel,  sand,  and 
fine  silt,  in  the  valleys  along  which  the  floods  supplied  by  this 


84  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 

melting  descended  toward  the  ocean.  Along  the  Mississippi  the 
ancient  flood-plain  of  modified  drift  at  Brainerd  has  a  height 
of  about  60  feet  above  the  river;  at  Little  Falls  its  height  is 
25  to  30  feet;  at  St.  Cloud,  60  feet;  at  Clearwater  and  Monti- 
cello,  70  to  80  feet;  at  Dayton,  45  feet;  and  at  Minneapolis,  25 
to  30  feet  above  the  river  at  the  head  of  St.  Anthony's  Falls. 

The  modified  drift  at  Little  Falls  lies  on  the  till  or  direct 
deposit  of  the  ice-sheet,  and  forms  a  surface  over  which  the  ice 
never  readvanced.  It  is  far  within  the  area  that  was  ice-covered 
in  the  latest  or  Wisconsin  epoch  of  glaciation.  The  courses  of 
the  great  marginal  moraines  then  amassed  along  the  boundaries 
of  the  waning  ice-sheet  wherever  it  temporarily  paused,  or  per- 
haps sometimes  readvanced,  interrupting  its  recession,  show  its 
successive  stages  of  departure,  uncovering  the  land  surface. 

During  the  time  of  deposition  of  this  valley  drift  in  the 
vicinity  of  Little  Falls,  the  front  of  the  departing  continental 
glacier  was  accumulating  the  eighth  or  Fergus  Falls  moraine 
and  the  ninth  or  Leaf  Hills  moraine,  in  the  series  of  twelve  mor- 
ainic  belts  traced  in  their  irregular  courses  across  Minnesota. 
While  the  tenth,  eleventh,  and  twelfth,  or  the  Itasca,  Mesabi, 
and  Vermilion  moraines,  were  being  formed,  crossing  the  lake 
region  at  the  head  of  the  Mississippi  and  farther  north,  the 
gravel  and  sand  of  the  modified  drift  was  probably  wholly  de- 
posited north  of  Little  Falls.  Man  therefore  was  here  contem- 
poraneous with  the  existence  of  the  Glacial  Lake  Agassiz,  and 
with  the  retreat  of  the  ice-sheet  from  the  northern  part  of  this 
state. 

Plants  and  animals  doubtless  followed  close  upon  the  re- 
tiring ice-border,  and  men  living  in  the  region  southward  would 
make  journeys  of  exploration  to  that  limit,  but  probably  they 
would  not  take  up  their  abode  for  all  the  year  so  near  to  the  ice 
as  Little  Falls  at  the  time  of  the  Fergus  Falls  and  Leaf  Hills 
moraines.  It  may  be  that  the  chief  cause  leading  men  to  occupy 
this  locality,  so  soon  after  it  was  uncovered  from  the  ice,  was 
their  discovery  of  the  quartz  veins  in  the  slate  there  and  on  the 
Little  Elk  river,  affording  suitable  material  for  making  sharp- 
edged  stone  implements  of  the  best  quality.  Quartz  veins  are 


THE  RED  MEN.  85 

absent  or  very  rare  and  unsuited  for  this  use  in  all  the  rock  out- 
crops of  the  south  half  of  Minnesota  that  had  become  uncovered 
from  the  ice,  as  well  as  of  the  whole  Mississippi  basin  south- 
ward, and  this  was  the  first  spot  accessible  whence  quartz  for 
implement  making  could  be  obtained.  The  deposition  of  the 
valley  drift  at  Little  Falls,  supplied  from  the  melting  ice-fields 
not  far  distant  at  the  north,  was  still  going  forward  while  primi- 
tive men,  ancestors  of  the  Eskimos  or  the  Indians,  resorted  there, 
and  left,  as  the  remnants  of  their  manufacture  of  stone  imple- 
ments, multitudes  of  quartz  fragments. 

The  flooded  condition  of  the  river,  overspreading  this  sand 
and  gravel  plain  and  adding  to  its  upper  layers  from  the  drift 
yielded  by  the  melting  ice-sheet,  was  doubtless  maintained 
through  all  the  warm  portion  of  the  year.  But  in  spring,  au- 
iumn,  and  winter,  or,  in  exceptional  years,  through  much  of  the 
summer,  it  seems  probable  that  the  river  was  confined  to  a 
channel,  being  of  insufficient  volume  to  cover  its  flood  plain. 
At  such  times  this  valley  at  Little  Falls  was  the  site  of  human 
habitations  and  industry.  After  the  complete  disappearance  of 
the  ice  from  the  basin  of  the  upper  .Mississippi,  the  supply  of 
both  water  and  sediment  was  so  diminished  that  the  river,  from 
that  time  till  now,  has  been  occupied  more  in  erosion  than  in 
deposition,  and  has  cut  its  channel  far  below  the  level  at  which 
it  then  flowed,  excavating  and  carrying  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico 
a  great  part  of  its  glacial  flood-plain,  the  remnants  of  which 
are  seen  as  high  terraces  or  plains  upon  each  side  of  the  river. 

THE  MOUNDS  AND  THEIR  BUILDERS. 

Minnesota  has  probably  more  than  ten  thousand  artificial 
earth  mounds,  mostly  of  rounded  and  gently  or  steeply  sloping 
domelike  form,  varying  in  height  usually  from  one  or  two  feet  to 
six  or  eight  feet,  but  occasionally  ten  to  fifteen  feet  high,  or  very 
rarely  larger.  Occurring  sometimes  singly,  but  commonly  in 
groups  of  several  or  many,  up  to  ten,  twenty,  or  more,  they  are 
found  principally  along  the  large  rivers  and  in  the  vicinity  of 
lakes,  where  the  fish  and  game  afford  sustenance.  Often,  as  in 


86  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 

Mounds  Park  on  Dayton's  bluff  of  the  Mississippi  river  valley  in 
the  east  edge  of  the  city  of  St.  Paul,  they  are  situated  on  the 
tops  of  bluffs  or  hills,  where  a  very  grand  and  inspiring  outlook 
can  be  obtained,  extending  for  many  miles  along  a  great  valley 
or  across  lake  and  prairie.  Like  the  mounds  in  this  park,  nearly 
all  the  mounds  of  this  state  were  used  for  burial,  but  very  com- 
monly for  only  a  few  bones  of  the  chief  or  friend  so  honored 
and  commemorated. 

It  was  formerly  thought  by  many  archaeologists,  twenty-five 
to  fifty  years  ago,  that  the  mounds  of  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi 
valleys  were  built  by  a  prehistoric  people,  distinct  from  the  In- 
dians and  further  advanced  in  agriculture  and  the  arts  of  civili- 
zation. To  that  ancient  people  the  name  of  Mound  Builders  was 
given,  and  it  was  supposed  that  they  were  driven  southward  into 
Mexico  by  incursions  of  the  Indian  tribes  that  were  found  in 
our  country  at  the  first  coming  of  white  men.  This  view,  how- 
ever, has  been  generally  given  up.  The  researches  of  Powell  and 
other  specialists,  including  Winchell  and  Brower  in  Minnesota, 
have  well  referred  the  building  of  the  mounds  to  the  ancestors 
of  the  present  Indians. 

From  the  testimony  of  Captain  Jonathan  Carver,  it  seems 
to  me  wellnigh  certain  that  some  or  all  of  the  mounds  on  Day- 
ton's bluff  in  St.  Paul  were  built  for  sepulture  by  the  Sioux. 
It  was  their  custom  to  enwrap  the  body  after  death  and  to 
expose  it  in  the  open  air  on  a  scaffold  of  poles.  Later,  in  many 
cases,  the  relatives  kept  some  of  the  bones  and  carried  them  in 
their  journeys,  and  Carver  saw  such  bundles  of  bones  brought 
there  by  the  Sioux  for  interment.  Although  I  think  those 
mounds  to  have  been  built  partly  in  his  time,  a  hundred  and 
forty  years  ago,  the  same  mound  groups  may  be  in  part  much 
older.  Indeed,  it  is  very  probable  that  the  building  of  mounds 
and  other  earthworks  was  practiced  by  many  Indian  tribes,  and 
from  very  remote  times,  perhaps  ever  since  the  recession  of  the 
ice-sheet  from  the  upper  Mississippi  region. 

Carver  traveled  in  the  summer  and  autumn  of  1766  from 
Boston  to  the  Minnesota  river,  and  spent  the  following  winter 
with  the  Sioux  near  the  site  of  New  Ulm.  He  arrived  at  the 


THE  BED  MEN.  87 

site  of  St.  Paul  at  the  middle  of  November,  and  visited  the 
cave  later  named  for  him  in  the  base  of  Dayton's  bluff,  of  which 
cave  and  its  neighborhood  he  wrote: 

The  Indians  term  it  Wakon-teebe,  that  is,  the  Dwelling  of  the 
Great  Spirit.  *  *  *  At  a  little  distance  from  this  dreary  cavern 
is  the  burying-place  of  several  bands  of  the  Naudowessie  [Sioux]  In- 
dians: though  these  people  have  no  fixed  residence,  living  in  tents,  and 
abiding  but  a  few  months  on  one  spot,  yet  they  always  bring 
the  bones  of  their  dead  to  this  place;  which  they  take  the  opportunity 
of  doing  when  the  chiefs  meet  to  hold  their  councils,  and  to  settle 
all  public  affairs  for  the  ensuing  summer. 

So  long  ago  was  the  site  of  the  Mounds  Park,  or  some  other 
bury  ing-ground  very  near  it,  used  by  the  Sioux  bands  coming 
habitually  there  once  a  year,  with  the  opening  of  spring,  to 
inter  the  bones  of  their  dead,  and  on  the  same  occasion  to  hold  a 
legislative  session.  It  is  thus  seen  that  St.  Paul  was  even  then 
the  established  seat  of  government,  the  capital,  as  we  might  say, 
of  the  adjoining  Sioux  country. 

When  Carver  returned  to  the  east  the  next  spring,  voyaging 
down  the  Minnesota  and  Mississippi  rivers,  he  was  accompanied 
to  this  locality  of  Carver's  Cave  and  Mounds  Park  by  nearly 
three  hundred  of  the  Sioux,  including  many  of  their  chiefs. 

Above  the  site  of  the  cave  and  about  a  third  of  a  mile  south 
from  it,  at  the  crest  of  the  river  bluff,  one  of  the  finest  groups 
of  Indian  mounds  in  Minnesota,  now  guarded  and  preserved 
in  this  city  park  of  St.  Paul  for  all  coming  time,  tells  of  the 
vanished  red  people,  once  owners  of  this  region,  to  their  white 
successors.  It  is  a  place  to  pause  from  our  busy  toil,  to  think 
back  to  former  centuries  when  a  ruder  race,  children  of  the  forest 
and  the  prairie,  here  hunted  and  fished,  strove  in  wars,  loved  and 
hated,  exulted,  sorrowed,  and  passed  away,  leaving  scarcely  any 
traces  of  their  existence  save  these  earth  mounds. 

In  the  American  Antiquarian  for  1896,  T.  H.  Lewis,  of  St. 
Paul,  published  two  papers  describing  the  Indian  village  sites 
and  mound  groups  of  the  area  of  this  city.  With  its  high  land 
terminating  in  steep  or  precipitous  bluffs  overlooking  the  Mis- 
sissippi, this  was  a  favorite  place  of  the  Indians  for  their  tem- 
porary camping,  or  probably  often  for  continuous  residence  dur- 


88  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 

ing  many  years,  with  absence,  of  course,  for  hunting  and  to 
gather  berries  and  wild  rice  in  their  season.  No  less  than  ten 
sites  of  Indian  villages,  known  by  frequent  stone  implements 
and  their  fragments  scattered  in  the  soil,  are  found  by  Lewis 
within  the  city  limits,  six  being  near  the  east  or  north  side  of  the 
river,  two  on  Phalen  creek,  and  two  west  of  the  river. 

Four  groups  of  mounds  are  reported  on  the  east  side  of 
the  river  in  this  area,  including  58  mounds,  and  two  groups 
in  West  St.  Paul,  together  having  31  mounds.  Thus  the  total 
number  of  mounds  which  Lewis  examined  in  former  years  and 
recorded  here  is  89;  but  the  most  of  them  have  been  since  de- 
stroyed. 

The  two  most  numerous  groups  in  the  east  edge  of  the  city 
were  on  Dayton's  bluff,  which  was  named  more  than  fifty  years 
ago  for  Lyman  Dayton,  a  pioneer.  It  rises  perpendicularly  as 
a  rock  bluff  from  near  the  river  shore  to  a  height  of  200  to  240 
feet.  One  of  the  groups,  extending  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile 
on  the  verge  of  the  northwestern  and  slightly  lower  part  of  the 
bluff,  originally  comprised  thirty-two  mounds,  as  Lewis  states; 
but  nine  of  them  had  been  demolished  before  his  survey  in  1881, 
when  he  noted  the  largest  mound  of  that  group  as  47  feet  in 
diameter  and  five  and  a  half  feet  high.  Scarcely  one  now  re- 
mains. 

The  more  interesting  southeastern  group,  situated  in  the 
Mounds  Park,  lies  on  the  verge  of  the  highest  part  of  the  bluff. 
It  begins  a  third  of  a  mile  southeast  from  the  site  of  the  other 
group,  and  extends  some  fifty  rods  east-southeast.  As  mapped 
by  Lewis,  it  originally  had  eighteen  mounds.  He  writes  as  fol- 
lows : 

This  group  formerly  consisted  of  one  round  mound  with  an  ap- 
proach, one  elliptical  mound,  and  sixteen  round  mounds,  the  largest 
of  which  was  eighteen  feet  in  height.  *  *  *  In  1856,  the  late  Dr. 
Edward  D.  Neill  made  an  excavation  in  it,  and  at  the  depth  of  six 
feet  found  the  fragmentary  remains  of  a  human  skeleton  and  a  few 
pieces  of  broken  pottery. 

Ten  and  eleven  years  later,  in  1866  and  1867,  other  exca- 
vations were  made  in  this  highest  mound  and  in  others  adjoin- 
ing it  by  Alfred  .T.  Hill  and  William  H.  Kelley,  finding  frag- 


THE  BED  MEN.  89 

ments  of  human  bones,  a  broken  earthen  pipe,  decayed  mussel 
shells,  charcoal  and  ashes,  a  few  fragments  of  pottery  made  of 
clay  mixed  with  broken  shell  particles,  and  "a  large  number  of 
sea-shell  beads  closely  packed  together,"  as  if  they  had  formed  a 
bracelet. 

After  a  further  interval  of  twelve  years,  one  of  the  large 
mounds  of  this  group,  70  feet  in  diameter  and  12  feet  high,  was 
partially  excavated  in  June,  1879,  by  T.  H.  Lewis  and  William 
H.  Gross.  They  found  near  the  center  of  the  mound,  at  the 
depth  of  seven  feet,  "a  well  preserved  bone  implement,  which 
had  been  rudely  sharpened  at  one  end  as  if  intended  to  be  used 
as  an  awl  or  perforator."  Thence  downward  a  round  stake  ex- 
tended about  two  feet,  and  at  the  depth  of  eleven  and  one-half 
feet  five  pieces  of  wood,  about  eight  feet  long  and  five  to  seven 
inches  in  diameter,  were  found  lying  parallel  with  each  other, 
14  to  17  inches  apart,  extending  from  north  to  south.  In  the 
next  foot  below  these  large  horizontal  poles  were  decayed  human 
bones,  a  bed  of  charcoal  and  ashes  one  to  two  inches  deep,  and 
a  stratum  of  clay  five  inches  deep,  packed  very  hard,  which  ap- 
peared to  have  been  a  hearth  or  fireplace.  This  was  nearly  at 
the  original  surface  of  the  ground  before  the  mound  was  built. 
The  preservation  of  the  wood  shows  that  this  large  mound  is  not 
very  old.  It  is  the  next  southeast  of  the  highest  mound,  near* 
the  center  of  the  group. 

In  August,  1882,  Lewis  made  excavations  in  twelve  mounds 
of  this  group  finding  in  all  of  them  human  bones,  in  most  of- 
them  mussel  shells,  but  only  rarely  a  stone  arrowhead,  or  some- 
times several  together,  and  under  one  mound,  near  the  origi- 
nal land  surface,  a  bed  of  charcoal  and  ashes  two  and  a  half 
inches  deep. 

The  most  notable  discovery  in  these  extensive  excavations 
by  Lewis  was  at  the  bottom  of  one  of  the  northwestern  mounds, 
about  fifty  feet  in  diameter  and  nine  feet  high,  where,  just  below 
the  natural  surface,  eight  stone  cists  or  box-like  compartments, 
rudely  rectangular,  about  one  by  two  feet  in  areal  dimensions  and 
about  seven  inches  deep,  had  been  formed  by  setting  flat  pieces 
of  limestone  on  edge  and  covering  them  with  limestone  slabs 


90  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 

and  boulders  from  the  glacial  drift,  making  a  heap  of  stones 
nine  feet  in  diameter  and  nearly  two  feet  high  as  a  roof.  Each 
of  the  eight  underlying  cists  contained  human  bones,  but  none 
had  a  complete  skeleton. 

Besides  the  bones,  seven  of  the  cists  contained  mussel  shells, 
from  one  to  fourteen  in  each.  One  had  also  a  single  arrowhead, 
another  had  three  arrowheads,  and  a  third  had  nine.  In  the 
central  cist,  no  mussel  shell  nor  arrowhead  was  found;  but  it 
contained  a  perforated  bear's  tooth,  a  small  piece  of  lead  ore,  and* 
a  small  lump  of  red  clay. 

Seven  mounds,  from  four  to  eighteen  feet  high,  namely, 
Nos.  2,  3,  7  (built  above  the  wooden  poles),  9  (the  highest),  10, 
12  (having  the  stone  cists),  and  13,  of  the  original  eighteen 
mapped  and  numbered  by  Lewis,  remain  for  inspection  by  visi- 
tors in  Mounds  Park.  The  other  eleven  mounds  have  been  re- 
moved in  grading  the  ground,  or  are  not  now  clearly  recognizable. 
The  Pavilion  stands  on  the  site  of  the  original  mound  num- 
bered 16,  at  the  northwestern  end  of  the  group. 

Whether  any  of  the  mounds  in  St.  Paul  were  built  at  so 
late  a  time  as  is  here  suggested,  cannot  be  certainly  affirmed  nor 
denied;  but  we  have  positive  testimony  that  at  least  one  mound, 
near  the  celebrated  Indian  quarry  of  red  Pipestone  in  south- 
western Minnesota,  belongs  to  a  date  nearly  seventy  years  after 
Carver's  expedition  to  this  region.  George  Catlin,  the  skillful 
painter  of  Indian  portraits,  visited  this  quarry  in  1836,  and 
wrote  as  follows  (North  American  Indians,  vol.  II,  p.  170),  con- 
cerning the  occasion  of  building  this  mound,  for  the  burial  of  a 
young  Sioux  brave  who  lost  his  life  in  attempting  an  athletic 
feat. 

The  medicine  (or  leaping)  rock  is  a  part  of  the  precipice  which 
has  become  severed  from  the  main  part,  standing  about  seven  or  eight 
feet  from  the  wall,  just  equal  in  height,  and  about  seven  feet  in 
diameter. 

It  stands  like  an  immense  column  of  thirty-five  feet  high,  and 
highly  polished  on  its  top  and  sides.  It  requires  a  daring  effort  to  leap 
on  to  its  top  from  the  main  wall,  and  back  again,  and  many  a  heart 
ha?  sighed  for  the  honour  of  the  feat  without  daring  to  make  the  at- 
tempt. Some  few  have  tried  with  success,  and  left  their  arrows  stand- 


THE  RED  MEN.  91 

ing  in  its  crevice,  several  of  which  are  seen  there  at  this  time;  others 
have  leapt  the  chasm  and  fallen  from  the  slippery  surface  on  which 
they  could  not  hold,  and  suffered  instant  death  upon  the  craggy  rocks 
below.  Every  young  man  in  the  nation  is  ambitious  to  perform  this 
feat;  and  those  who  have  successfully  done  it  are  allowed  to  boast 
of  it  all  their  lives.  In  the  sketch  already  exhibited  [plate  270,  at  page 
164  of  that  volume],  there  will  be  seen  a  view  of  the  "leaping  rock;" 
and,  in  the  middle  of  the  picture,  a  mound,  of  a  conical  form,  of  ten 
feet  height,  which  was  erected  over  the  body  of  a  distinguished  young 
man  who  was  killed  by  making  this  daring  effort,  about  two  years 
before  I  was  there,  and  whose  sad  fate  was  related  to  me  by  a  Sioux 
chief,  who  was  father  of  the  young  man,  and  was  visiting  the  Red 
Pipe  Stone  Quarry,  with  thirty  others  of  his  tribe,  when  we  were 
there  and  cried  over  the  grave,  as  he  related  the  story  to  Mr.  Wood 
and  myself,  of  his  son's  death. 

In  numerous  instances,  and  at  widely  separated  localities, 
mounds  in  this  state  have  been  found  to  contain  articles  made  by 
white  men,  as  noted,  in  the  reports  of  the  Geological  Survey  of 
Minnesota,  by  Prof.  N.  H.  Winchell  and  the  present  writer. 

One  of  these  mounds,  on  the  site  of  the  city  of  Eed  Wing, 
was  thought  by  the  late  Col.  William  Colvill  to  have  been  proba- 
bly built  as  the  burial  place  of  the  Sioux  chief  from  whom  the 
city  received  its  name.  When  this  mound  was  leveled,  in  grad- 
ing a  street,  decaying  bones  were  found  in  it,  and  also  a  Jeffer- 
son medal  of  the  year  1801,  which  Colonel  Colvill  supposed  to 
have  been  presented  to  Red  Wing,  the  old  chief,  by  Lieut.  Z. 
M.  Pike,  on  his  return  in  1806  from  exploration  of  the  upper 
Mississippi. 

Mound  burial,  either  of  the  body  soon  after  death,  or,  more 
commonly,  of  some  of  the  bones  kept  by  relatives  or  other  friends 
during  weeks  or  months  and  brought  for  ceremonious  burial  at 
some  stated  season  of  the  year,  seems  to  have  been  a  common  cus- 
tom of  the  Sioux;  but  the  less  frequent,  and  even  very  rare  occur- 
rence of  artificial  mounds  in  all  the  country  permanently  oc- 
cupied by  the  Algonquian  tribes,  including  the  0  jib  ways  of 
northern  Minnesota,  indicates  that  they  very  rarely  or  never  built 
mounds  as  monuments  of  their  dead. 

Surveys  and  plats  of  nearly  all  the  groups  of  mounds  in 
this  state,  with  collection  of  many  relics  from  them,  have  been 


92  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 

made  by  T.  H.  Lewis,  Alfred  J.  Hill,  and  Hon.  J.  V.  Brower, 
the  latter  bemg  so  engaged  several  years  for  the  Minnesota 
Historical  Society.  Since  the  death  of  Mr.  Brower  in  1905,  his 
unfinished  work  has  been  continued  for  the  Historical  Society 
by  Professor  Winchell,  chiefly  in  preparation  of  a  full  report  on 
the  Indian  tribes  and  the  archaeology  of  Minnesota,  with  a  large 
series  of  maps  of  the  mounds. 

A  very  valuable  archaeological  collection  of  aboriginal  im- 
plements, weapons  and  ornaments,  made  of  stone,  copper,  bone, 
etc.,  gathered  from  nearly  every  state  in  the  Union  and  from 
other  countries  of  America  and  the  Old  World,  has  been  pre- 
sented to  this  Historical  Society  by  Rev.  Edward  C.  Mitchell, 
of  St.  Paul,  and  is  exhibited  in  its  museum  in  the  new  capitol. 
Other  collections,  gathered  by  Mr.  Brower  in  Minnesota  and  the 
region  west  to  the  Rocky  mountains  and  south  to  Kansas,  repre- 
senting largely  both  the  mound  builders  and  the  present  Indians, 
are  also  to  be  placed  in  this  museum,  after  they  shall  have  been 
classified  by  Professor  Winchell  in  his  work  for  the  publication 
before  noted. 

TRIBES  FORMERLY  IN  MINNESOTA. 

The  earliest  records  of  explorations  reaching  to  the  area  of 
this  state,  written  by  Radisson,  who  with  his  brother-in-law, 
Groseilliers,  came  here  in  two  expeditions,  first  in  1655-56  and 
again  in  1659-60,  surpass  the  writings  of  most  of  the  later  explor- 
ers in  the  great  amount  of  detailed  information  given  concerning 
the  Indians,  with  whom  these  first  white  men  in  Minnesota  dealt, 
trading  for  their  furs,  roamed  through  the  woods  or  prairies,  can- 
oed along  the  streams  and  lakes,  and  lived  in  wigwams  and  tepees. 
Radisson's  pages  of  glowing  and  minute  descriptions,  recitals 
of  addresses  and  parleys  by  the  Indians  and  his  brother  and 
himself  in  the  rude  councils  and  festivals  with  the  savages,  and 
indeed  the  whole  spirit  and  tone  of  his  narrations,  are  redo- 
lent with  the  freshness  and  wildness  of  nature  anfl  of  mankind 
in  all  this  great  western  region  as  it  was  two  and  a  half  centur- 
ies ago.  In  reading  his  pages,  the  mind  is  transported  backward 


THE  BED  MEN.  93 

a  quarter  of  a  millenium.  We  see  the  wild  red  men  in  their 
hunting  of  game,  on  the  "road  of  war,"  and  in  the  stealthy 
ambuscade;  the  women  in  their  work  of  the  lodge  and  the  corn- 
fields; and  the  youth  and  children  in  their  pastimes,  or,  when 
famine  befell,  in  the  pangs  of  hunger  even  to  death,  with 
many  also  of  the  braves  and  whoever  was  old  or  weakened  by 
disease. 

Gathering  throughout  these  narrations,  and  from  the  subse- 
quent works  of  Hennepin,  Perrot,  Carver,  the  Henrys,  Macken- 
zie, Pike,  Keating  and  Long.  Beltrami,  Schoolcraft,  Catlin,  Nic- 
ollet,  and  others,  the  varied  threads  of  information  of  the  In- 
dians, and  weaving  them  to  present,  as  in  a  tapestry,  the  picture 
of  savage  life,  the  delineation  of  the  Indian's  character,  his 
habits  of  thought  and  action,  we  can  restore,  in  imagination, 
those  bygone  times  when  the  aboriginal  possessors  of  the  country 
drained  by  the  Hudson  and  the  St.  Lawrence,  the  Great  Lakes, 
and  the  Mississippi,  dwelt  at  peace  in  their  several  tribal  areas, 
or  often  carried  war  and  devastation  against  their  neighbors  and 
even  to  distances  of  hundred  of  leagues. 

The  two  principal  tribes  of  Minnesota,  whose  hunting 
grounds  long  included  all  this  area,  until  ceded  by  treaties,  were 
the  Ojibways,  ranging  through  our  northern  forest  region  and 
still  living  there  on  reservations,  and  the  Sioux,  originally  in- 
habiting mainly  the  southern  and  western  prairie  portion  of  the 
state.  Bands  from  four  other  tribes  or  Indian  peoples  have  tem- 
porarily lived  here,  these  being  Hurons,  Ottawas,  Winnebagoes, 
and  Crees. 

All  these  tribes  are  made  known,  in  their  early  relations  to 
this  area,  by  the  narratives  of  Kadisson.  Therefore  it  will  be 
most  convenient  to  give  accounts  of  them  here  in  the  order  of 
their  geographic  position,  as  they  were  found  in  his  two  western 
expeditions. 

To  understand  the  wanderings  of  some  of  these  western 
tribes,  however,  we  must  first  notice  the  Iroquois,  dwelling  be- 
tween the  Hudson  and  Gtenesee  rivers  in  the  area  of  the  state  of 
New  York,  whose  war  parties  were  dreaded  by  all  the  surround- 
ing tribes.  From  a  remote  common  ancestry,  the  Iroquois,  while 


94  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 

all  continuing  to  speak  the  same  language,  had  diverged  into  five 
tribes  or  nations,  who  had  united  in  a  league  before  the  first  com- 
ing of  white  men.  This  powerful  confederation  included,  as 
Morgan  estimates,  at  least  25,000  people  at  the  period  of  their 
greatest  prosperity  and  highest  numbers,  about  the  middle  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  when  Groseilliers  and  Radisson  made  these 
expeditions. 

In  1649-50  the  Iroquois  had  conquered  the  Hurons,  and 
within  two  years  later  the  Ottawas;  and  in  1654  they  nearly  ex- 
terminated the  Eries,  acquiring  undisputed  possession  of  all  the 
country  about  Lake  Erie.  During  seventy-five  years,  from  1625 
to  1700,  their  raids  of  conquest  and  subjugation  covered  a  wide 
region  from  New  England  to  the  Mississippi. 

The  Jesuit  fathers,  Radisson,  and  all  writers  on  the  history 
of  this  period,  abound  in  testimony  of  the  fear  with  which  the 
other  Indians  and  the  French  regarded  these  foes.  The  jour- 
neys of  the  fur  traders  and  missionaries  to  and  from  the  far 
west  were  practicable  only  by  way  of  the  Ottawa,  Mattawa,  and 
French  rivers;  for  the  route  through  lakes  Ontario  and  Erie  was 
debarred  by  the  Iroquois.  To  undertake  safely  the  trip  down  the 
Ottawa,  with  a  yearns  collection  of  furs,  required  a  very  large 
escorting  company  of  Indians,  so  formidable  that  the  usual  rang- 
ing parties  of  the  Iroquois  would  not  dare  to  attack  them.  Sev- 
eral hundred  Indians  from  the  tribes  of  the  upper  Mississippi 
and  lakes  Michigan  and  Superior  made  this  trip  with  Groseilliers 
and  Radisson  on  their  return  from  both  their  western  expedi- 
tions. Ten  years  afterwards,  in  1670,  more  than  nine  hundred 
Indians  accompanied  Perrot  and  four  other  Frenchmen  when 
they  returned  from  the  west  to  Montreal. 

The  Five  Nations  of  the  Iroquois  in  Radisson's  time  were 
the  Senecas,  Cayugas,  Onondagas,  Oneidas,  and  Mohawks.  In 
1715  they  admitted  the  Tuscaroras  into  their  league,  a  tribe  of 
the  same  stock  as  shown  by  their  language,  who  had  lived  before 
in  North  Carolina;  and  thenceforth  they  were  commonly  called 
the  Six  Nations.  At  the  present  day  their  descendants  in  north- 
ern and  western  New  York,  mostly  living  on  reservations,  num- 
ber about  5,300.  and  in  the  provinces  of  Quebec  and  Ontario, 


THE  BED  MEN.  95 

Canada,  about  8,000;  while  nearly  2,000  Oneidas  live  on  a  reser- 
vation in  Wisconsin,  whither  the  greater  part  of  that  tribe  re- 
moved in  1846. 

They  called  themselves  the  Ho-de-no-sau-nee,  or  People  of 
the  Long  House,  meaning  the  long  tract  of  country  from  the 
Hudson  and  Mohawk  rivers  past  the  Finger  Lakes  of  central 
New  York  to  the  Genesee  and  Niagara,  which  was  their  home. 
Thus  they  indicated  the  close  relationship  of  the  Iroquois  League, 
under  which,  as  their  thought  is  expressed  by  Morgan,  their 
several  nations  "constituted  one  Family,  dwelling  together  in  one 

Long  House." 

i 

HUKONS. 

According  to  the  Jesuit  Eelations  of  1655-56,  the  principal 
bands  of  the  Hurons,  living  in  seventeen  villages  within  an  area 
of  no  greater  extent  than  about  fifty  miles,  had  formerly  num- 
bered fully  30,000  people.  From  that  home  country  southeast 
of  Georgian  bay,  where  they  had  depended  largely  on  agricul- 
ture, especially  the  raising  of  corn,  being  mostly  neither  expert 
hunters  nor  practiced  warriors,  the  survivors  from  the  Iroquois 
attacks  fled  to  Bois  Blanc  island  and  Mackinac,  and  to  the  region 
of  Green  bay  and  the  Fox  river. 

TheTobacco  nation,  a  more  western  band  of  this  people, 
who  had  been  so  named  for  their  diversified  agriculture,  notably 
including  the  plentiful  cultivation  of  tobacco,  went  onward  to 
the  friendly  Illinois  tribe  on  the  Illinois  and  Mississippi  rivers. 
Hence,  in  company  with  some  of  the  similarly  exiled  Ottawas, 
who  had  lived  farther  northwest,  on  Lake  Huron,  they  sought 
a  permanent  refuge  and  settlement  in  the  region  of  the  Upper 
Iowa  river,  nearly  on  the  south  line  of  the  present  state  of  Min- 
nesota. Disappointed  in  finding  no  forests  there,  they  advanced 
farther  up  the  Mississippi,  to  Prairie  island,  ten  miles  long,  on  the 
Minnesota  side  of  the  main  channel  of  the  great  river  between 
Lake  Pepin  and  the  mouth  of  the  St.  Croix,  in  the  midst  of  a 
beautiful  country  of  forests  and  prairies,  which  they  chose  for 
their  new  home. 


96  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 

But  in  an  evil  day  hostilities  were  begun  by  these  Hurons 
against  the  Sioux,  whom  they  thought  to  be  at  a  disadvantage 
from  their  not  having  firearms.  The  greater  numbers  and  su- 
perior prowess  of  the  Sioux  enabled  them  soon  to  harass  the 
Hurons  and  Ottawas  so  that  they  again  relinquished  their  homes 
and  fled  into  the  forest  of  northwestern  Wisconsin,  on  the  neu- 
tral ground  between  the  Ojibways,  Menominees,  and  other  tribes 
on  the  east,  and  the  warlike  Sioux  on  the  west. 

Nicolas  Perrot,  who  came  in  1683  to  the  Mississippi,  by 
way  of  the  Wisconsin  river,  and  was  engaged  in  trade  with  the 
Indians  thence  northward  to  Lake  Pepin  during  several  years, 
until  1689  or  later,  is  the  authority  for  the  temporary  settlement 
of  the  Hurons  and  Ottawas  on  Isle  Pel6e,  now  Prairie  island, 
where  Groseilliers  and  Radisson  spent  more  than  a  year  with 
them.  He  wrote  a  treatise  entitled,  in  translation  from  the 
French,  "Memoir  on  the  Manners,  Customs,  and  Religion  of  the 
Savages  of  North  America."  This  was  preserved  in  manuscript 
until  1864,  when  it  was  published  by  the  Jesuit  father,  J.  Tail- 
han,  with  important  editorial  notes  and  a  very  elaborate  index. 

Perrot  had  trading  posts  on  Lake  Pepin  and  the  Mississippi 
river  farther  south,  exerted  a  great  influence  over  the  Indians 
of  Wisconsin,  eastern  Iowa,  and  southeastern  Minnesota,  and  de- 
rived from  them,  and  from  the  Indians  and  French  of  Cbe- 
quamegon  bay,  the  account  of  the  wanderings  of  the  Ottawas 
and  Hurons,  with  their  stay  of  a  few  years  on  Prairie  island.  It 
is  given  by  his  Memoir  in  its  chapter  XV,  entitled,  as  trans- 
lated, "Flight  of  the  Hurons  and  Ottawas  to  the  Mississippi." 
This  statement  is  very  important  in  its  confirmation  of  the  view 
to  be  set  forth  in  the  next  chapter  of  the  present  volume,  that 
Radisson's  "first  landing  isle"  was  no  other  than  Prairie  island; 
and  therefore  it  seems  desirable  to  give  a  close  translation  of  it, 
which  I  have  made  as  follows: 

When  all  the  Ottawas  were  scattered  toward  the  lakes,  the  Saulteurs 
fOjibways]  and  Missisakis  [who  had  lived  on  the  north  shore  of 
Lake  Huron]  fled  to  the  north,  and  then  to  Kionconan  [Keweenaw], 
for  the  sake  of  hunting;  and  the  Ottawas,  fearing  that  they  would 
not  be  sufficiently  strong  to  resist  the  incursions  of  the  Iroquois,  who 
would  be  informed  of  the  place  where  they  had  made  their  settle- 


THE  EED  MEN.  97 

ment,  fled  for  refuge  to  the  Mississippi  river,  which  is  called  at  the 
present  time  the  Louisianne.  They  ascended  this  river  to  the  distance 
of  a  dozen  leagues  or  thereabout  from  the  Wisconsin  river,  where  they 
found  another  river  which  is  called  the  river  of  the  lowas  [the  Upper 
Iowa,  heading  in  the  southeastern  part  of  Mower  county,  Minnesota]. 
They  followed  it  to  its  source,  and  there  encountered  tribes  who  re- 
ceived them  kindly.  But  in  all  the  extent  of  country  which  they 
passed  through  having  seen  no  place  suitable  for  their  settlement,  by 
reason  that  there  was  no  timber  at  all,  and  that  it  showed  only  prairies 
and  smooth  plains,  though  buffaloes  and  other  animals  were  in  abund- 
ance, they  resumed  their  same  route  to  return  upon  their  steps;  and 
after  having  once  more  reached  the  Louisianne,  they  went  higher  up. 

They  were  not  long  there  without  separating  to  go  to  one  side  and 
the  other  for  hunting:  I  speak  of  one  party  only  of  their  people,  whom 
the  Sioux  encountered,  took,  and  brought  to  their  villages.  The  Sioux, 
who  had  not  any  acquaintance  with  firearms  and  other  instruments 
which  they  saw  in  their  possession,  themselves  using  only  knives  of 
stone,  as  of  a  millstone,  and  axes  of  chert  cobbles,  hoped  that  these 
new  tribes  who  had  approached  them  would  share  with  them  the 
commodities  which  they  had;  and,  believing  that  they  were  super- 
natural, because  they  had  the  use  of  this  fire  which  had  no  resemblance 
with  all  that  they  had,  like  the  stones  and  other  things,  just  as  I 
have  said,  they  brought  them  to  their  villages,  and  afterward  restored 
them  to  their  own  people. 

The  Ottawas  and  Hurons  received  them  very  well  in  their  turn, 
without  however  giving  them  large  presents.  The  Sioux  came  back  to 
their  people,  with  some  little  things  which  they  had  received  from  the 
Ottawas,  distributed  a  part  to  the  other  villages  of  their  allies,  and  gave 
hatchets  to  some  and  a  few  knives  or  awls  to  others.  All  these  Vil- 
lages sent  deputies  to  the  Ottawas,  where,  as  soon  as  they  had  arrived, 
they  commenced,  following  their  custom,  to  shed  tears  upon  all  whom 
they  met,  for  indicating  to  them  the  unrestrained  joy  that  they  had 
in  having  found  them,  and  to  implore  them  to  have  pity  upon  them,  by 
sharing  with  them  this  iron  which  they  regarded  as  a  divinity. 

The  Ottawas,  seeing  these  people  weep  on  all  who  presented  them- 
eelves  before  them,  considered  it  in  scorn,  and  regarded  them  as  people 
much  inferior  to  themselves,  incapable  even  of  making  war.  They  gave 
to  them  also  a  trifle,  be  it  knives  or  awls,  which  the  Sioux  showed  that 
they  esteemed  very  much,  raising  their  eyes  to  heaven  and  blessing  it 
for  having  conducted  these  tribes  into  their  country,  who  would  be  able 
to  procure  for  them  so  powerful  means  to  make  an  end  of  their  poverty. 
The  Ottawas,  who  had  some  fowling-pieces,  fired  them,  and  the  noise 
that  they  made  frightened  them  so  much  that  they  imagined  that  it 
was  the  lightning  or  the  thunder,  of  which  they  were  masters  to  exter- 
minate whomsoever  they  would. 

I.-5 


98  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 

The  Sioux  made  a  thousand  expressions  of  affection  to  the  Hurons 
and  Ottawas  everywhere  they  were,  manifesting  to  them  all  subservience 
possible,  to  the  end  of  moving  them  to  compassion,  and  deriving  from 
it  some  benefit;  but  the  Ottawas  had  for  them  so  much  less  of  esteem, 
as  they  persisted  in  placing  themselves  before  them  in  these  attitudes  of 
humiliation.  The  Ottawas  decided  finally  to  choose  the  island  named 
Pelee  for  their  settlement,  where  they  were  some  years  in  peace.  They 
there  received  often  the  visits  of  the  Sioux.  But  a  day  arrived  when  the 
Hurons,  being  on  the  hunt,  encountered  some  Sioux  whom  they  killed. 
The  Sioux,  in  sorrow  for  their  comrades,  did  not  know  what  had 
become  of  them;  they  found  some  days  afterward  the  dead  bodies  from 
which  they  had  cut  off  the  head.  They  returned  to  their  village  hastily 
to  bring  this  sad  news,  and  encountered  some  Hurons  on  the  road,  whom 
they  took  as  prisoners.  When  they  had  arrived  among  their  people,  the 
chiefs  released  them  and  sent  them  back  to  their  tribe.  The  Hurons, 
having  so  much  audacity  as  to  imagine  that  the  Sioux  were  incapable 
of  resisting  them  without  weapons  of  iron  and  firearms,  conspired  with 
the  Oftawas  to  attack  them  and  make  war  upon  them,  in  order  to  drive 
them  from  their  country,  and  for  themselves  to  be  able  to  extend 
farther  the  range  of  their  hunting.  The  Ottawas  and  Hurons  joined 
themselves  together  and  marched  against  the  Sioux.  They  believed  that 
as  soon  as  they  appeared,  they  would  flee;  but  they  were  much  deceived, 
for  they  resisted  their  attacks  and  even  repelled  them,  and  if  they 
had  uot  retreated,  they  would  have  been  entirely  defeated  by  the 
great  number  of  the  horde  who  came  from  other  villages  of  their 
allies  for  their  help.  They  pursued  them  even  to  their  settlement, 
where  they  were  constrained  to  make  a  poor  fort,  which  did  not  permit 
them  to  be  capable  to  make  the  Sioux  turn  back,  even  though  they  did 
not  dare  to  attack  it. 

The  continual  raids  which  the  Sioux  made  upon  them  obliged  them 
to  flee.  They  had  acquaintance  with  a  river  which  we  call  the  Black 
riTer;  they  entered  it,  and,  having  arrived  where  it  takes  its  source,  the 
Hurons  there  found  a  place  suitable  for  fortifying  themselves  and  es- 
tablishing their  village.  The  Ottawas  pushed  farther,  and  marched  to 
Lake  Superior,  and  fixed  their  abode  at  Chequamegon.  The  Sioux,  see- 
ing their  enemies  departed,  dwelt  in  peace  without  pursuing  them 
farther;  but  the  Hurons  were  not  content  to  stop  there;  they  formed 
some  expeditions  against  them,  which  produced  little  effect,  drew  upon 
themselves  on  the  part  of  the  Sioux  frequent  raids,  and  obliged  them  to 
quit  their  fort  for  going  to  join  the  Ottawas  at  Chequamegon,  with  a 
great  loss  of  their  people. 

The  narration  continues  with  warfare  carried  on  by  the 
Hurons,  in  the  region  of  Chequamegon  bay,  against  the  Sioux 
of  the  country  west  and  south.  In  1670-71  these  refugees,  fear- 


THE  EED  MEN.  99 

ing  a  Sioux  attack  and  massacre,  abandoned  their  settlements 
on  that  bay,  going  again  to  live  on  the  Manitoulin  and  Mackinac 
islands,  in  and  adjoining  the  north  part  of  Lake  Huron,  whence, 
about  eighteen  years  before,  in  1652-53,  this  large  part  of  the 
exiled  Ottawa  and  Huron  tribes  had  started  on  their  travels  to 
the  Illinois,  Mississippi,  and  Upper  Iowa  rivers,  to  Prairie  island 
in  Minnesota,  and  afterward  to  northern  Wisconsin  and  Che- 
quamegon  bay. 

To  my  mind  Perrot's  narration  is  a  complete  proof  that 
these  refugees  spent  a  few  years  on  Prairie  island,  where  Gros- 
eilliers  and  Kadisson  visited  them  in  1655-56,  if  I  rightly  iden- 
tify the*  route  of  that  expedition.  Three  years  later,  in  1659, 
the  Hurons  were  found  on  the  lakes  at  the  sources  of  the  Chip- 
pewa  river,  while  the  Ottawas  had  come  to  Chequamegon  bay, 
or  at  least  were  there  the  next  spring. 

It  is  clearly  known  that  the  Hurons  and  Ottawas  occupied 
Prairie  island  only  four  or  five  years,  coming  in  1653  or  1654, 
and  departing  probably  in  1658,  or  perhaps  a  year  earlier. 
Eadisson  says  that  in  1655  they  had  newly  come  to  Prairie  is- 
land. Before  the  summer  of  1659  the  Hurons  had  temporarily 
located  at  a  lake  in  northern  Wisconsin,  thought  to  be  Lac 
Courte  Oreille,  whence  some  of  them,  with  Ojibways,  went  dur- 
ing that  summer  to  Montreal  and  Three  Eivers,  afterward  re- 
turning in  the  company  of  Groseilliers  and  Radisson.  Besides, 
in  harmony  with  Perrofs  statement  that  the  Ottawas  came  ear- 
liest to  Lake  Superior,  we  learn  from  Radisson  that  in  1659-60 
they  were  apparently  just  establishing  themselves  at  Chequame- 
gon bay;  for,  according  to  his  narration,  in  the  spring  of  1660 
they  built  a  fort  on  the  long  beach  which  incloses  this  bay  at  the 
northeast,  now  called  Oak  point. 

In  lineage  and  language  the  Hurons  were  of  the  extensive 
Iroquoian  stock.  The  name  Huron,  from  a  French  word,  hure 
(a  head,  as  of  a  wild  boar),  was  given  to  them  by  the  French, 
in  allusion  to  the  ridged  and  bristling  arrangement  of  their 
hair.  Their  descendants,  known  after  their  aboriginal  name  as 
Wyandots,  now  number  some  700,  about  half  being  in  the  Indian 
Territory,  and  half  in  Canada. 


100  MINNESOTA  IN  THKEE  CENTURIES. 

An  interesting  sketch  of  the  Tionontates,  or  Tobacco  nation, 
from  1616,  when  they  were  first  visited  by  the  French,  to  the 
period  of  the  Revolutionary  War,  was  given  by  Shea  in  the 
Historical  Magazine  (vol.  V.  pp.  262-269,  Sept.,  1861).  This 
branch  of  the  Huron  tribe,  whose  remnant,  probably  with  other 
fugitive  Hurons,  we  have  traced  in  their  wandering  to  Prairie 
island  and  Chequainegon  bay,  originally  lived,  according  to 
Farkman,  in  the  valleys  of  the  Blue  mountains,  at  the  soutli 
extremity  of  Georgian  bay.  Their  country,  including  nine  vil- 
lages in  1640,  was  two  days'  journey  west  from  the  frontier 
villages  of  the  main  body  of  the  Hurons,  among  whom  the 
Jesuits  had  very  successful  missions  until  the  Iroquois'  devas- 
tated all  that  region. 

OTTAWAS. 

Franquelin,  on  his  map  of  North  America  drafted  in  1688, 
placed  the  Nations  of  Ottawas  [Outaouacs]  in  Wisconsin  and 
northeastern  Minnesota,  indicating,  erroneously,  that  it  was  a 
collective  name  for  the  native  tribes  of  this  region.  It  was  often 
so  used  by  the  Jesuits  and  other  early  French  writers,  but  not 
by  the  Indians.  The  Huron  name  for  the  Ottawas  was  Onda- 
tahouats,  signifying  "the  people  of  the  forest;"  and  this  name 
became  shortened  to  Ottawas.  The  French  nicknamed  them  as 
the  Chev&ux  relevez  (having  crested  hair),  whence  Radisson 
called  them  "the  nation  of  the  stairing  haires."  He  also  gave 
this  name  to  Lake  Huron,  where  they  dwelt,  limiting  his  "lake 
of  the  hurrons"  to  Georgian  bay. 

From  their  former  homes,  on  and  near  Lake  Huron  and 
on  its  islands,  the  Ottawas  had  been  dispersed  westward,  about 
the  years  1650-52,  by  the  incursions  of  the  Iroquois.  A  part  of 
the  tribe  fled,  with  the  Tobacco  band  of  Hurons,  to  the  Missis- 
sippi, lived  a  few  years  with  them  on  Prairie  island  and  in  its 
vicinity,  and  then  passed  north  to  Chequamegon  bay.  The  es- 
cort of  Groseilliers  and  Radisson  on  their  return  from  Prairie 
island  to  Quebec  included  Ottawa  Indians;  and  Radisson  also 
particularly  mentions  the  Sinagoes,  one  of  the  four  principal 


THE  BED  MEN.  101 

bands  of  the  Ottawas,  as  a  part  of  the  same  escort.  The  Ottawa 
river  received  its  name  from  its  being  the  route  by  which  these 
Indians  came  yearly  from  Lake  Huron  to  trade  with  the  French 
on  the  lower  St.  Lawrence. 

In  1670-71  the  Ottawas,  being  driven  from  Chequamegon 
bay  by  attacks  of  the  Sioux,  returned  to  the  Grand  Manitoulin 
island,  one  of  their  ancient  places  of  abode,  in  the  north  part  of 
Lake  Huron,  where  the  Jesuits  established  among  them  a  flour- 
ishing mission.  They  belong  to  the  great  Algonquian  stock,  and 
their  language  is  closely  allied  with  the  Ojibway.  About  3,000 
of  their  descendants  live  in  Michigan,  in  the  region  of  Mackinac, 
on  Grand  Traverse  and  Little  Traverse  bays,  etc.;  about  900  are 
on  Manitoulin  and  Cockburn  islands,  Lake  Huron;  and  a  few, 
about  160,  are  on  a  reservation  in  the  Indian  Territory. 

A  party  of  Ottawas,  coming  to  the  Hurons  during  the  fa- 
mine experienced  in  eastern  Minnesota  in  the  winter  of  1659-60, 
as  narrated  by  Radisson,  obtained  by  bartering  with  the  Hurons 
a  share  of  their  very  scanty  food  supplies,  intensifying  the  se- 
verity of  the  general  starvation.  Again,  on  Chequamegon  bay, 
Ottawas  exacted  a  large  recompense  from  Groseilliers  and  Radis- 
son for  aiding  them  when  the  latter  was  chilled  and  exhausted 
in  dragging  their  sleds,  laden  with  merchandise  and  furs,  across 
the  melting  ice  of  the  bay.  Remembering  their  conduct  on  these 
occasions,  Radisson  ranked  them  as  the  lowest  among  "four  score 
nations"  of  the  Indians  whom  he  had  known. 

WINNEBAGOES. 

Green  bay  was  known  to  the  French  in  Radisson's  time  as 
the  Bay  of  the  Puants,  or  Winnebagoes;  and  their  name  is  now 
borne  by  the  large  Winnebago  lake  on  the  old  canoe  route  from 
Green  bay  by  the  Fox  river  to  the  Wisconsin  and  the  Missis- 
sippi. They  were  there  visited  by  Jean  Nicolet  in  the  winter 
of  1634-35,  and  by  Groseilliers  and  Radisson  in  the  winter  of 
1654-55.  From  the  Winnebago  country  our  two  first  French 
traders  of  Minnesota,  with  a  hundred  and  fifty  Indians,  tramp- 
ed on  snowshoes  in  the  early  spring  of  1655  to  the  Mississippi, 


102  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 

and  thence  ascended  this  river  to  visit  the  Huron  and   Ottawa 
settlement  on  Prairie  island. 

The  Winnebagoes  were  an  outlying  tribe  of  the  Siouan 
stock,  mainly  surrounded  by  Algonquian  tribes.  Their  name, 
meaning  the  People  of  the  Stinking  Water,  that  is,  of  the  sea, 
was  adopted  by  the  French  from  its  use  among  the  Algonquins, 
just  as  the  name  Sioux  was  received  from  the  Ojibway  and 
other  Algonquian  languages.  The  populous  and  powerful  Winne- 
bagoes continued  in  possession  of  the  same  area  during  two  cen- 
turies after  they  first  became  known  to  history.  In  1832  they 
ceded  their  country  south  and  east  of  the  Fox  and  Wisconsin 
rivers  to  the  United  States,  and  afterward  many  of  the  tribe 
were  removed  to  northeastern  Iowa.  Thence,  in  1848,  they  were 
removed  to  Long  Prairie,  in  the  central  part  of  the  present  state 
of  Minnesota;  and  in  1855  they  were  again  removed,  to  a  re- 
servation in  Blue  Earth  county  of  this  state.  In  1863,  after 
the  Sioux  outbreak,  they  were  removed  to  a  reservation  in 
Dakota;  and  in  1866  to  a  more  suitable  reservation  in  Nebraska, 
where  this  part  of  the  Winnebago  tribe  now  numbers  about  1,100. 
A  large  number,  stated  by  Grinnell  as  about  1,450,  still  live  in 
Wisconsin. 

OJIBWAYS. 

By  the  early  French  voyageurs  and  writers  the  Ojibways 
were  commonly  called  Saulteurs,  from  their  once  living  in  large 
numbers  about  the  Sault  Ste.  Marie.  Their  area,  however,  also 
comprised  a  great  part  of  the  shores  of  lakes  Huron  and  Super- 
ior, with  the  adjoining  country  to  variable  distances  inland. 
During  the  eighteenth  century  they  much  extended  their  range 
southwestward,  driving  the  Sioux  from  the  wooded  part  of  Min- 
nesota, and  also  spreading  across  the  Red  river  valley  to  the 
Turtle  mountain  on  the  boundary  between  North  Dakota  and 
Manitoba.  In  English  their  name  appears,  in  a  corrupted  form, 
as  Chippewas. 

It  is  asserted  by  Warren,  the  historian  of  the  Ojibway  na- 
tion, that  this  name  means,  "To  roast  till  puckered  up,"  refer- 


THE  BED  MEN.  103 

ring  to  the  torture  of  prisoners  taken  in  war.  This  seems  to  me 
a  more  probable  origin  than  any  of  the  several  others  that  have 
been  advocated,  as  the  puckering  or  plaiting  of  the  moccasin; 
a  puckering  of  the  lips  in  speaking  or  drinking;  the  drawling 
pronunciation  of  words,  which  is  said  by  Belcourt  to  charac- 
terize these  people;  or  the  contraction  of  the  lakes  toward  the 
strait  of  Mackinac,  once  their  refuge  from  the  Iroquois,  or  to- 
ward St.  Mary's  river  and  falls,  as  was  suggested  by  Governor 
Ramsey. 

When  Groseilliers  and  Eadisson  came  to  the  Sault  Ste. 
Marie,  in  1659,  the  country  was  deserted,  the  Ojibways  formerly 
there  having  fled  westward  before  the  fury  of  Iroquois  rangers. 
Among  the  characteristics  of  the  Ojibways  which  we  discern  in 
Radisson's  writings  is  an  aptitude  for  commercial  enterprises, 
as  they  came  yearly  with  their  furs  to-  Montreal  and  Quebec; 
and  in  the  spring  of  1660  Ojibway  traders,  after  trafficking 
among  the  Sioux  of  the  Prairies,  returned  with  these  Frenchmen 
to  Chequamegon  bay. 

About  9,000  Ojibways  are  now  living  in  northern  Minne- 
sota; about  2,200  in  the  vicinity  of  Devil's  lake  and  Turtle 
mountain,  North  Dakota;  3,000  in  Wisconsin;  and  probably 
4,000  in  Michigan.  Their  population  in  the  United  States  is 
thus  about  18,000.  Nearly  as  many  other  Ojibways  live  in  the 
Canadian  province  of  Ontario,  north  of  lakes  Huron  and  Su- 
perior, and  farther  northwest  in  Manitoba;  so  that  their  entire 
numbers  are  about  35,000.  They  are  the  largest  tribe  or  division 
of  the  very  widely  spread  Algonquian  stock. 

Both  in  Canada  and  the  United  States  the  Ojibways  have 
generally  manifested  a  disposition  for  peace  with  the  white  set- 
tlers. But  in  the  early  history  of  Minnesota,  and  during  a 
hundred  years  before  this  territory  was  organized,  they  were 
almost  continually  hostile  to  the  Sioux  or  Dakotas,  with  fre- 
quent raids,  conflicts  between  small  war  parties,  and  ambuscades 
and  murders  by  each  of  these  wily  hereditary  foes. 

William  W.  Warren,  whose  motfier  was  an  Ojibway,  pre- 
pared, in  1851-53,  an  extended  and  very  valuable  History  of 
the  Ojibway  Nation,  chiefly  relating  to  its  part  in  Minnesota 


104  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 

and  Wisconsin,  which  was  published  in  1885  as  Volume  V  of  the 
Minnesota  Historical  Society  Collections.  In  Volume  IX  of 
the  same  series,  published  in  1901,  Rev.  Joseph  A.  Gilflllan, 
who  during  more  than  twenty  years  was  a  very  devoted  mission- 
ary among  the  Ojibways  in  the  White  Earth  reservation  and 
other  large  parts  of  northern  Minnesota,  contributed  a  paper  of 
seventy-four  pages,  vividly  portraying  the  habits  and  mode  of 
life  of  this  people,  their  customs  and  usages  in  intercourse  with 
each  other  and  with  the  white  people,  their  diverse  types  of  phy- 
sical and  mental  development  and  characteristics,  and  much  of 
their  recent  history. 

Conflicts  which  were  waged  long  and  fiercely  between  the 
Ojibways  and  the  Sioux  for  the  possession  of  northeastern  Min- 
nesota, and  the  results  of  extended  researches  concerning  the 
artificial  mounds  and  primitive  men  of  this  region,  were  set 
forth  by  the  late  Hon.  J.  V.  Brower  in  three  admirable  mono- 
graphs, Mttle  Lac,  published  in  1900;  Kathio,  in  1901;  and 
Kakabikansing,  in  1902. 

SIOUX. 

The  aboriginal  tribes  and  bands  who  were  called  by  Radisson 
the  Nadoneceronons  (more  commonly  by  other  writers  the  Na- 
douesioux)  or  Nation  of  the  Beef,  that  is,  the  Buffalo,  once  in- 
habited nearly  all  of  the  present  state  of  Minnesota,  and  also  a 
large  extent  of  the  great  prairie  region  farther  south  and  west, 
in  Iowa,  Nebraska,  and  the  Dakotas.  The  Sioux  and  Assini- 
boines  were  first  brought  to  the  knowledge  of  Europeans  in  the 
Jesuit  Relation  of  1640,  being  reported  to  the  writer,  by  Jean 
Nicolet,  as  living  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  Winnebagoes.  In 
the  Relation  of  1642,  information  from  Fathers  Raymbault  and 
Jogues  defined  their  country  as  nine  days'  journey  beyond  the 
west  end  of  Lake  Superior. 

Groseilliers  and  Radisson  were  the  first  white  men  to  visit 
the  Sioux.  They  laid  the  foundation  for  fur  trading,  and  coun- 
eeled  peace  with  the  Crees  and  other  tribes,  against  whom  the 
Sioux,  "the  Iroquois  of  the  West/'  had  frequent  wars.  After 


THE  RED  MEN.  105 

the  great  "feast  of  the  dead,"  when  they  thus  sought  to  re- 
concile the  Sioux  and  Crees,  the  French  traders  went  to  see  the 
Sioux  of  the  Buffalo  Prairies  in  their  own  country. 

The  locality  of  the  feast  and  council  with  the  Sioux,  and 
with  the  Crees  who  were  later  invited,  I  have  identified  as  some- 
where on  or  near  Knife  river  and  lake  in  Kanabec  county, 
Minnesota.  These  Frenchmen  probably  did  not  go  to  the  very 
extensive  settlement  of  the  Sioux  in  the  neighborhood  of  the 
mouth  of  Mille  Lacs,  only  one  or  two  days'  journey  westward 
from  their  Sioux  and  Cree  feast.  It  is  unfortunate  that  the 
name  of  that  "great  village  of  the  Nadouesioux,  called  Izatys, 
where  never  had  a  Frenchman  been,"  as  stated  by  Du  Luth,  pre- 
vious to  his  own  visit  there  on  July  2,  1679,  was  misread  by 
Brodhead  in  the  original  manuscript  of  Du  Luth's  letter  or 
memoir  as  "Kathio,"  transcribing  Iz  of  Izatys  as  "K,"  and  ys 
as  "hio"  (Documents  relating  to  the  Colonial  History  of  the 
State  of  New  York,  Volume  IX,  published  in  1855,  page  795). 
Brodhead  undoubtedly  had  before  him  the  same  manuscript  that 
was  used  by  Shea  for  his  translation  in  1880  (Hennepin's  Dis- 
covery of  Louisiana,  Appendix,  page  375),  and  by  Margry  for 
his  French  publication  in  1886  (Margry  Papers,  Volume  VI, 
page  22).  Neill,  Winchell,  Hill,  Brower,  Coues,  and  the  present 
writer,  have  been  misled  into  using  the  name  Kathio  by  Brod- 
head's  error.  It  has  been  so  much  used,  indeed,  that  it  may  be 
retained  as  a  synonym  of  Izatys. 

The  name  Sioux  is  the  terminal  part  of  Nadouessis  or 
Nadouesioux,  a  term  of  hatred,  meaning  snakes,  enemies,  which 
was  applied  by  the  Ojibways  and  other  Algonquins  to  this  peo- 
ple, and  sometimes  also  to  the  Iroquois.  Under  this  long  Al- 
gonquian  name  they  were  commonly  designated  by  the  Jesuit 
Relations,  by  Du  Luth  and  Hennepin,  by  La  Salle  in  1682  on 
the  lower  Mississippi  and  Perrot  in  1689  at  Fort  St.  Antoine  on 
Lake  Pepin,  when  they  each  took  formal  possession  of  this  region 
for  France,  and  by  other  early  writings  and  maps.  Soon  after- 
ward, however,  in  Perrot's  Memoir,  and  in  the  journals  of  Le 
Sueur  and  Penicaut,  it  had  been  shortened  to  its  present  form; 
but,  much  later,  Carver  again  used  the  old  unabbreviated  name, 


106  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 

probably  because  of  acquaintance  with  the  writings  of  Hennepin. 
The  Sioux  tribes  dislike  this  alien  name,  and  call  themselves, 
collectively,  Dakotas,  that  is,  allies  or  confederates. 

In  the  narration  of  his  pretended  journey  to  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico,  Radisson  stated  that  the  "people  that  dwelleth  about  the 
salt  water  *  *  *  are  called  Tatarga,  that  is  to  say,  buff," 
meaning  the  buffalo,  the  Sioux  or  Dakota  name  of  the  buffalo 
being  tatanka.  He  added  that  they  went  to  war  yearly  against 
the  Sioux  and  the  Crees,  showing  that  he  supposed  the  Tatarga 
tc  be  a  distinct  tribe  or  people.  Again,  in  the  account  of  his 
fictitious  year  in  the  second  western  expedition,  describing  the 
Crees  in  the  region  of  Hudson  bay,  Radisson  referred  to  their 
having  "a  stone  of  Turquois  from  the  nation  of  the  buff  and 
beefe,  with  whome  they  had  warrs."  At  the  end  of  the  narration 
of  this  expedition,  Radisson  gave  a  list  of  the  names  of  thirty- 
one  Indian  nations  or  tribes  in  the  South,  and  another  list  of 
forty-one  nations  in  the  North,  noting  in  each  case  that  many 
of  these  tribes  had  been  destroyed  by  the  Iroquois.  The  four- 
names  ending  the  latter  list  are  Christines  (Crees),  Nadoucer- 
onons  (Sioux),  Quinipigousek  (Winnebagoes),  and  Tatanga,  the 
last  being  certainly  intended  to  be  identical  with  the  Tatarga 
before  mentioned.  Radisson  says  in  the  brief  comment  follow- 
ing the  list  of  the  South:  "All  these  Nations  are  sedentaries, 
and  live  upon  corn  and  other  grains,  by  hunting  and  fishing, 
which  is  plentiful,  and  by  the  ragouts  of  roots;"  and  concern- 
ing the  tribes  of  the  North:  "The  two  last  [Winnebagoes  and 
Tatanga]  are  sedentary  and  doe  reap,  and  all  the  rest  are  wan- 
dering people,  that  live  by  their  hunting  and  Fishing,  and  some 
few  of  Rice  that  they  doe  labour  for." 

With  little  knowledge  of  the  people  named  Tatanga,  Radis- 
son  appears  to  have  thus  referred  to  one  of  the  large  divisions 
of  the  mainly  nomadic  Sioux  of  the  western  prairies  and  plains, 
the  same  which  Le  Sueur,  writing  about  forty  years  later,  called 
the  Tintangaoughiatons,  translating  it  as  the  Village  of  the 
Great  Cabin  or  Tepee.  This  identification  was  first  suggested 
by  J.  V.  Brower  and  Alfred  J.  Hill  in  the  seventh  volume  of  the 
Minnesota  Historical  Society  Collections.  The  translation  is 


THE  RED  MEN.  107 

more  properly  rendered  by  Hennepin,  as  "the  Nation  of  the  prai- 
ries, who  are  called  Tintonha,"  from  the  Sioux  word  tintah,  a 
prairie.  They  are  the  present  Tintonwans,  Titonwans,  or  Tetons, 
comprising  many  bands  of  Sioux  who  ranged  over  southern  and 
western  Minnesota  and  onward  to  the  vast  country  of  plains 
west  of  the  Missouri  river. 

Some  bands  of  this  people  of  the  buffalo  prairies,  imper- 
fectly known  to  Radisson  as  the  Tatarga  or  Tatanga,  lived  not 
far  westward  of  Prairie  island,  and  by  their  later  hostility  com- 
pelled the  Huron  and  Ottawa  refugees  to  forsake  their  tern-, 
porary  home  there,  fleeing  into  northern  Wisconsin.  These  prai- 
rie Indians,  not  recognized  by  the  Frenchmen  to  be  the  same 
with  the  Nadouesioux,  as  they  were  called  by  the  Ojibways, 
were  almost  surely  represented,  under  the  name  "ticacon,"  in 
the  motley  retinue,  from  many  tribes,  who  went  with  Groseil- 
liers  and  Eadisson  from  Prairie  island  to  Montreal  and  Quebec. 

The  Tetons  now  number  about  16,000;  all  the  other  Sioux 
or  Dakotas  in  the  United  States  number  about  11,000;  and  their 
small  bands  in  Canada,  about  850.  The  entire  Sioux  people 
are  thus  approximately  28,000.  In  the  times  of  Radisson  and 
Hennepin  they  had  probably  somewhat  greater  numbers.  The 
former  was  told  that  they  had  seven  thousand  men,  that  is, 
warriors;  and  the  later  wrote:  "These  Indians  number  eight 
or  nine  thousand  warriors,  very  brave,  great  runners,  and  very 
good  bowmen." 

About  15,000  other  Indians  belong  to  the  Siouan  stock  or 
family,  which,  besides  the  Sioux  proper  or  Dakotas,  includes  also 
the  Assiniboines  or  Stone  Sioux,  a  tribe  that  seceded  from  the 
Sioux  a  few  centuries  ago,  now  numbering  about  3,000;  the 
Omahas,  nearly  1,200;  the  Poncas,  about  800;  the  Osages,  near- 
ly 1,800;  the  Winnebagoes,  about  2,500,  as  before  noted;  the 
Crows  some  2,000;  and  small  remnants  of  the  Kansas  or  Kaws, 
lowas,  Mandans,  and  several  other  tribes. 

Near  the  Atlantic  coast,  numerous  other  Siouan  tribes, 
some  of  whom  were  powerful,  lived  in  Virginia  and  North  and 
South  Carolina,  as  made  known  by  the  researches  of  Hale,  Gats- 
chet,  and  Mooney;  but  they  have  dwindled  until  now  only  a  few 


108  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 

score  of  their  people  remain.  From  that  eastern  country  the 
Sioux  of  the  upper  Mississippi  and  Missouri  rivers  probably  came 
by  migration  along  the  Ohio,  passing  mostly  to  the  west  of  the 
Mississippi  several  centuries  before  the  discovery  of  America. 

After  the  conquest  of  the  Mille  Lacs  region  by  the  Ojib- 
ways,  estimated  by  Brower  to  have  taken  place  about  1750  or  a 
few  years  earlier,  the  Mdewakantonwan  Sioux,  that  is,  those  of 
Spirit  lake,  named  Mille  Lacs  by  the  French,  retreated  to  the 
south  and  established  themselves  on  the  Mississippi.  Previously, 
in  the  year  1700,  the  vicinity  of  the  Mississippi  along  the  south- 
east border  of  the  area  of  Minnesota  was  a  neutral  and  mostly  un- 
inhabited country,  called  by  the  Indians  a  "road  of  war/'  as  Le 
Sueur  wrote,  "between  the  Scioux  and  Outagamis  [Foxes],  because 
the  latter,  who  dwell  on  the  east  side  of  the  Mississippi,  pass  this 
road  continually  when  going  to  war  against  the  Scioux."  Carver, 
ascending  the  Mississippi  in  1766,  found  villages  of  Sioux,  called 
the  river  bands,  who  had  probably  come  from  Mille  Lacs  since 
1750,  then  living  "near  the  river  St.  Croix,"  and  his  map 
shows  them  somewhat  above  that  stream,  in  the  neighborhood  of 
St.  Paul. 

During  the  next  forty  years  they  extended  much  farther 
south.  In  1805,  Pike  found  the  Minowa  Kantong,  as  he  wrote 
for  Mdewakantonwans,  beginning  near  Prairie  du  Chien  and 
reaching  along  the  course  of  the  Mississippi  to  the  mouth  of  the 
Minnesota,  and  also  thirty-five  miles  up  the  latter  river.  These 
were  the  same  as  the  Izatys  of  Du  Luth,  the  lesati  or  Isanti  tribe 
of  Hennepin,  who  in  1680  and  later  lived  in  the  region  of 
Mille  Lacs  and  the  Rum  river.  They  were  apparently  the 
largest  tribe  among  the  seven  enumerated  by  Le  Sueur  as  the 
Sioux  of  the  East.  Their  descendants,  now  called  Santees,  num- 
ber nearly  1,300,  of  whom  about  1,000  are  on  the  Santee  reser- 
vation in  Nebraska,  and  the  others  at  Flandreau,  South  Dakota. 

Leavenworth,  in  1821,  in  giving  his  written  testimony  con- 
cerning the  Carver  land  grant,  said  that  the  Sioux  of  the 
Plains  never  owned  land  on  the  east  side  of  the  Mississippi;  but 
already  the  former  Sioux  of  Mille  Lacs,  having  spread  along 
this  river  far  southward,  deserved,  as  he  thought,  their  distinctive 


THE  RED  MEN.  109 

designation  as  the  Sioux  of  the  River.  They  had  become  so  fully 
possessors  of  the  adjoining  southwestern  border  of  Wisconsin, 
formerly  owned  by  the  Outagami  or  Fox  tribe,  that  they  exacted 
and  received  tribute  for  timber  cut  and  rafted  by  Frenchmen 
from  the  Chippewa  river. 

Directly  after  the  Sioux  outbreak  of  1862,  nearly  all  of  these 
Indians  who  had  lived  in  Minnesota,  belonging  in  numerous 
bands,  fled  or  were  removed  to  Dakota.  Less  than  200  full- 
blood  Sioux  remain  in  this  state,  and  about  700  of  mixed  blood, 
mostly  near  Morton  and  Shakopee  on  the  Minnesota  river,  in  and 
near  Mendota,  at  its  mouth,  and  on  Prairie  island. 

Rev.  Stephen  R.  Riggs,  aided  by  other  missionaries  among 
the  Sioux  prepared  a  very  useful  Grammar  <wd  Dictionary  of 
the  Dakota  Language,  which  was  published  in  1852  by  the 
Smithsonian  Institution,  under  the  patronage  of  the  Minnesota 
Historical  Society,  being  the  fourth  volume  (338  pages)  of  the 
Smithsonian  Contributions  to  Knowledge.  The  part  of  this  work 
comprising  the  Dakota-English  Dictionary,  much  enlarged,  was 
republished  in  1890,  as  Volume  VII  (665  pages)  of  the  U.  S. 
Geographical  and  Geological  Survey  of  the  Rocky  Mountain 
Region. 

In  the  South  Dakota  Historical  Society  Collections,  the 
secretary  of  that  society,  Doane  Robinson,  published  in  1904, 
as  Part  II  of  its  volume  II,  A  History  of  the  Dakota  or  Sioux 
Indians,  523  pages,  treating  briefly  of  their  early  history  and 
quite  fully  of  the  last  sixty  years. 

Among  the  many  other  sources  of  information  concerning 
this  people,  the  reader  should  peruse  the  following  narrations 
of  missionary  work  in  Minnesota:  Mary  and  I,  Forty  years  with 
the  Sioux,  by  Rev.  Stephen  R.  Riggs,  388  pages,  1880;  Two 
"Volunteer  Missionaries  among  the  DaTcotas,  or  the  Story  of  the 
Labors  of  Samuel  W.  and  Gideon  H.  Pond,  by  S.  W.  Pond, 
Jr.,  278  pages,  1893 ;  Lights  and  Shadows  of  a  Long  Episco- 
pate, by  Bishop  Whipple,  576  pages,  1900. 

An  extensive  manuscript  of  Rev.  Samuel  W.  Pond,  describ- 
ing the  character  and  customs  of  the  Dakotas  or  Sioux  as  they 
were  in  1834,  when  he  came  here  as  a  missionary,  has  been  pre- 


110  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 

sented  to  the  Minnesota  Historical  Society  and  is  to  be  pub- 
lished in  the  next  Volume  XII  of  its  Collections.  This  treats 
of  the  Sioux  in  nearly  the  same  manner,  from  long  personal 
acquaintance  with  them,  as  the  0  jib  ways  are  described  by  Rev. 
J.  A.  Gilfillan  in  the  paper  before  noted. 

CREES. 

North  of  the  Sioux  country  and  adjoining  it,  a  vast  forest 
area  was  occupied  by  the  Crees,  who,  after  the  Ojibways,  are  the 
next  largest  tribe  of  the  great  Algonquian  stock.  Their  name, 
spelled  Christines  by  Radisson,  appears  under  a  dozen  forms,  or 
more,  in  the  Jesuit  Relations  and  other  works,  as  Christinaux, 
Kilistinons,  Kinistinons,  etc.  Rev.  George  A.  Belcourt,  long  a 
missionary  on  the  Red,  Assiniboine,  and  Saskatchewan  rivers, 
stated  that  the  Crees  call  themselves  Kinishtinak,  that  is,  held  by 
the  winds,  referring  to  their  dwelling  on  large  lakes  where  in 
windy  weather  they  could  not  travel  with  their  little  canoes.  In 
Radisson's  time,  the  Cree  canoes,  as  described  by  him,  were  so 
small  that  they  could  carry  only  one  or  two  persons,  being  the 
smallest  seen  by  him  among  all  the  Indian  tribes.  Their  country 
then  extended  into  northern  Minnesota,  to  the  northwest  shore 
and  west  end  of  Lake  Superior;  east  to  Lake  Nipigon  and 
James  bay;  far  northward  along  the  southwest  side  of  Hudson 
bay ;  and  west  to  Lake  Winnipeg  and  the  Saskatchewan.  Franque- 
lin's  map,  in  1688,  called  Lake  Winnipeg  the  Lake  of  the  Crees, 
and  Lake  Manitoba  the  Lake  of  the  Assiniboines. 

Awatanik,  a  roving  Indian  whose  narration  of  his  travel 
in  1659  along  the  shore  of  Hudson  bay  is  contained  in  the 
Jesuit  Relation  of  1659-60,  told  of  the  Crees  there  as  follows: 
"He  noticed  especially  the  Kilistinons,  who  are  divided  among 
nine  different  residences,  some  of  a  thousand,  others  of  fifteen 
hundred  men;  they  are  settled  in  large  villages,  where  they  leave 
their  wives  and  children  while  they  chase  the  Moose  and  hunt  the 
Beaver." 

Dablon,  in  the  Jesuit  Relation  of  1670-71,  wrote:  "Finally, 
the  Kilistinons  are  dispersed  through  the  whole  Region  to 


THE  BED  MEN.  Ill 

the  North  of  this  Lake  Superior, — possessing  neither  corn,  nor 
fields,  nor  any  fixed  abode;  but  forever  wandering  through  those 
vast  Forests,  and  seeking  a  livelihood  there  by  hunting." 

Within  the  next  hundred  years  after  the  western  expeditions 
of  Groseilliers  and  Radisson,  the  Crees  mostly  withdrew  from 
Minnesota  and  Lake  Superior,  yielding  to  the  encroaching  Ojib- 
ways.  At  the  present  time  their  geographic  area  reaches  from 
James  and  Hudson  bays  west  to  lakes  Winnipeg  and  Manitoba, 
northwest  almost  to  Athabasca  lake  and  river,  and  through 
Saskatchewan  and  Alberta  to  the  Rocky  Mountains.  In  their 
western  extension  they  were  separated  from  the  country  of  the 
Sioux  proper  by  that  of  the  Assiniboines,  who,  beginning  at  the 
Lake  of  the  Woods  and  the  Red  river  of  the  North,  ranged  over 
the  prairies  and  plains  of  southern  Manitoba,  Assiniboia,  and 
northern  Montana.  The  Crees  now  number  about  15,000,  all 
living  in  Canada,  and  are  the  largest  of  the  Canadian  Indian 
tribes. 

Traversing  the  eastern  part  of  their  country,  which  for 
journeys  afoot  is  possible  only  in  winter,  one  passes  through 
forests  alternating  with  small  and  large  tracts  of  peat  swamps, 
called  muskegs,  treeless,  or  bearing  a  few  tamaracks,  and  often 
inclosing  a  pond  or  lake.  Hence  the  Crees  in  that  region  are 
commonly  named  the  Swampy  Crees.  Northwestward,  where 
the  timber  is  more  continuous,  they  are  called  Wood  Crees;  and 
those  who  roam  over  the  shrubby  and  grassy  expanses  of  Al- 
berta are  the  Plain  Crees.  But  through  all  their  great  areal  ex- 
tent, they  differ  only  very  slightly  in  tribal  character  or  in  their 
language,  which  is  nearly  related  to  the  Ojibway  and  other 
Algonquian  languages.  It  is  also  to  be  noted  that  generally  or 
always  they  have  maintained  peace  with  their  Algonquian  neigh- 
bors, and  also  with  the  Assiniboines,  who,  when  seceding  from 
the  Sioux,  placed  themselves  under  the  protection  of  the  Crees. 

Eleven  years  after  the  council  held  with  the  Sioux  and 
Crees  by  Groseilliers  and  Radisson,  the  earliest  pioneers  of  the 
fur  trade  is  Minnesota,  St.  Lusson,  with  Perrot  as  his  interpreter, 
summoned  to  the  Sault  Ste.  Marie  delegations  from  many  nations 
or  tribes  of  the  upper  Great  Lakes  and  of  the  country  farther 


112  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 

north  and  west.  They  came,  at  the  time  appointed,  from  four- 
teen tribes,  including  the  Crees  and  Assiniboines.  On  June  14, 
1671,  aided  by  Father  Allouez,  Perrot,  and  about  twenty  others 
of  the  French,  St.  Lusson,  as  a  representative  for  Louis  XIV, 
secured  the  assent  of  these  Indians  to  his  taking  possession  of 
their  country,  formally  and  with  imposing  ceremony,  for  France, 
promising  in  return  to  protect  the  Indians  against  any  invading 
enemies.  This  treaty,  if  it  may  be  so  called,  aimed  to  ally  the 
native  tribes  with  the  French  in  opposition  to  the  English, 
who  were  then  establishing  their  trade  on  Hudson  bay. 

More  like  the  work  of  Groseilliers  and  Radisson,  for  culti- 
vating peace  among  the  Indian  tribes  and  alliance  with  France, 
were  the  efforts  of  Du  Luth  eight  years  after  the  convocation 
at  Sault  Ste.  Marie.  His  report  reads  as  follows,  translated 
by  Shea,  with  slight  changes  in  proper  names  to  accord  with 
the  original  French  text  published  in  the  Margry  Papers. 

On  the  2d  of  July,  1679,  I  had  the  honor  to  plant  his  majesty's  arms 
in  the  great  village  of  the  Nadouesioux,  called  Izatys,  where  never 
had  a  Frenchman  been,  no  more  than  at  the  Songastikons  and  Houet- 
batons,  distant  six  score  leagues  from  the  former,  where  I  also  planted 
his  majesty's  arms,  in  the  same  year  1679. 

On  the  15th  of  September,  having  given  the  Assenipoualaks 
[Assiniboines]  as  well  as  all  the  other  northern  nations  a  rendezvous 
at  the  extremity  of  Lake  Superior  to  induce  them  to  make  peace  with 
the  Nadouesioux,  their  common  enemy,  they  were  all  there,  and  I 
was  happy  enough  to  gain  their  esteem  and  friendship,  and  in  order 
that  the  peace  might  be  lasting  among  them,  I  thought  that  I  could  not 
cement  it  better  than  by  inducing  the  nations  to  make  reciprocal  mar- 
riages with  each  other,  which  I  could  not  effect  without  great  ex- 
pense. The  following  winter  I  made  them  hold  meetings  in  the  woods, 
which  I  attended,  in  order  that  they  might  hunt  together,  give  ban- 
quets, and,  by  this  means,  contract  a  closer  friendship. 

Between  the  second  western  expedition  narrated  by  Radis- 
son  and  this  tour  into  Minnesota  by  Du  Luth,  we  have  no. 
records  of  white  men  in  this  state.  Separated  by  nearly  twenty 
years,  these  forerunners  of  commerce  and  civilization  earnestly 
sought,  in  the  same  regions  and  by  similar  methods  of  persuasion, 
to  win  the  Indian  tribes,  Ojibways,  Sioux,  Assiniboines,  Crees, 
and  others,  to  live  in  peace  and  to  traffic  with  the  French.  A 


THE  RED  MEN.  113 

few  years  later  came  Perrot  and  Le  Sueur,  establishing  trading 
posts  on  the  Mississippi  and  on  Lake  Superior,  in  the  locations 
thought  to  be  best  for  securing  and  maintaining  intertribal  peace, 
especially  between  the  Ojibways  and  Sioux. 

AGRICULTURE   OF   THE  INDIANS. 

In  addition  to  the  food  supplies  obtained  by  hunting  and 
fishing,  wild  fruits,  berries,  and  nuts,  edible  roots,  and  wild 
rice,  the  Indians  of  our  region  relied  in  a  great  degree  on  their 
cultivation  of  food  plants.  We  may  therefore  well  extend  our 
view  beyond  the  state  limits,  to  consider  briefly  the  attainments 
of  the  American  or  red  race  in  agriculture,  the  oldest  of  the 
industrial  arts  that  lead  from  savagery  toward  civilization. 

Among  the  several  notable  additions  to  the  world's  import- 
ant food  resources  which  were  received  by  the  discovery  of  this 
western  continent,  including  potatoes,  tomatoes,  the  most  com- 
mon species  and  varieties  of  beans,  the  pumpkin  and  squashes, 
the  pine-apple,  and  the  domesticated  turkey,  no  other  ranks  so 
high  in  value  as  maize  or  Indian  corn,  which  was  cultivated  in 
abundance  by  all  the  tribes  of  the  eastern  and  southern  United 
States,  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  upper  Mississippi,  and  quite 
across  the  continent  to  California,  as  also  farther  south  in 
Mexico  and  Central  America,  and  onward  to  Peru,  Chile,  and 
the  River  La  Plata. 

Schoolcraft  wrote  of  this  grain:  'The  Zea,  maize,  origin- 
ally furnished  the  principal  article  of  subsistence  among  all  the 
tribes  of  this  race,  north  and  south.  It  lay  at  the  foundation 
of  the  Mexican  and  Peruvian  types  of  civilization,  as  well  as  the 
incipient  gleamings  of  it  among  the  more  warlike  tribes  of  the 
Iroquois,  Natchez,  Lenapees,  and  others,  of  northern  latitudes. 
They  esteem  it  so  important  and  divine  a  grain,  that  their 
story-tellers  invented  various  tales,  in  which  this  idea  is  sym- 
bolized under  the  form  of  a  special  gift  from  the  Great  Spirit. 
The  Ojibway-Algonquins,  who  call  it  Mon-da-min,  that  is,  the 
Spirit's  grain  or  berry,  have  a  pretty  story  of  this  kind,  in 
which  the  stalk  in  full  tassel  is  represented  as  descending  from 

I.-6 


114  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 

the  sky,  under  the  guise  of  a  handsome  youth,  in  answer  to  the 
prayers  of  a  young  man  at  his  fast  of  virility,  or  coming  to 
manhood." 

John  Fiske  wrote:  "The  ancient  Americans  had  a  cereal 
plant  peculiar  to  the  New  World,  which  made  comparatively 
small  demands  upon  the  intelligence  and  industry  of  the  culti- 
vator. Maize  or  'Indian  Corn*  has  played  a  most  important 
part  in  the  history  of  the  New  World,  as  regards  both  the  red 
men  and  the  white  men.  It  could  be  planted  without  clearing 
or  ploughing  the  soil.  It  was  only  necessary  to  girdle  the  trees 
with  a  stone  hatchet,  so  as  to  destroy  their  leaves  and  let  in  the 
sunshine.  A  few  scratches  and  digs  were  made  in  the  ground 
with  a  stone  digger,  and  the  seed  once  dropped  in  took  care  of 
itself.  The  ears  could  hang  for  weeks  after  ripening,  and  could 
be  picked  off  without  meddling  with  the  stalk;  there  was  no 
need  of  threshing  and  winnowing.  None  of  the  Old  World  ce- 
reals can  be  cultivated  without  much  more  industry  and  intel- 
ligence. At  the  same  time  when  Indian  corn  is  sown  in  tilled 
land,  it  yields  with  little  labour  more  than  twice  as  much  food 
per  acre  as  any  other  kind  of  grain.  This  was  of  incalculable 
advantage  to  the  English  settlers  of  New  England,  who  would 
have  found  it  much  harder  to  gain  a  secure  foothold  upon  the 
soil  if  they  had  had  to  begin  by  preparing  it  for  wheat  and 
rye  without  the  aid  of  the  beautiful  and  beneficent  American 
plant." 

Repeatedly  the  first  white  inhabitants  of  Massachusetts  and 
Virginia  were  saved  from  hunger,  and  probably  even  from  star- 
vation, by  the  corn  which  they  received  by  gift  or  purchase  or 
stealing  from  the  Indians.  Vast  fields  of  maize,  in  tens  and 
sometimes  hundreds  of  acres,  were  cultivated  close  to  the  larger 
villages  of  all  the  Indian  tribes,  as  is  well  attested  by  the  earliest 
chroniclers  of  our  colonial  history,  and  by  the  observations  of 
the  first  travelers  throughout  all  the  eastern  half  of  our  country. 
In  the  accounts  of  the  terrible  Indian  wars  of  tribal  extermina- 
tion, like  those  waged  by  the  Iroquois  against  the  Hurons  and 
the  Illinois,  and  in  the  campaigns  of  the  French  and  later  of  the 
English  against  the  Iroquois  themselves,  the  wanton  destruction 


THE  BED  MEN.  115 

of  their  great  cornfields  and  stores  of  corn  saved  for  winter,  or 
often  for  two  or  more  years  to  guard  against  any  failure  of 
crops,  excites  our  astonishment,  and  shows  how  large  a  share 
agriculture  contributed  to  their  subsistence. 

The  Hurons,  especially,  were  a  people  whose  large  depen- 
dence on  agriculture,  with  proportional  deficiency  as  wandering 
hunters  or  marauding  warriors,  had  made  them  an  easy  prey  of 
the  ferocious  and  pitiless  Iroquois.  One  branch  of  this  people 
were  called  the  Tobacco  tribe  or  nation,  as  before  related,  because 
they  were  remarkably  addicted  to  the  cultivation  and  use  of 
tobacco,  which  also  indeed  was  cultivated,  though  in  less  degree, 
by  all  the  tribes,  and  was  another  gift  from  America  to  the 
world.  Groseilliers  and  Eadisson  noted  the  extensive  deserted 
fields  of  the  Hurons,  depopulated  by  raids  of  their  Iroquois  ene- 
mies, about  the  south  part  of  Georgian  bay,  the  great  eastern 
arm  of  the  lake  which  bears  their  name.  Wherever  their  strag- 
gling remnants  migrated,  to  the  Illinois  Indians  on  the  Illinois 
river,  to  the  Upper  Iowa  river,  to  Prairie  island,  and  soon  after- 
ward to  the  interior  of  northern  Wisconsin  and  to  Chequamegon 
bay,  they  carried  superior  knowledge  and  practice  of  agriculture, 
for  which  reason  they  occupied  this  beautiful  island  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi a  few  years,  until  compelled  to  abandon  it.  by  the  fre- 
quent attacks  of  the  neighboring  Sioux. 

All  the  chief  varieties  of  maize,  as  that  with  small  and 
hard  yellow  kernels,  cultivated  farthest  north,  the  more  rank 
plant  with  large  indented  kernels,  whether  yellow  or  white,  cul- 
tivated through  the  southern  part  of  this  country,  the  white 
sweet  corn,  and  pop  corn,  had  originated  in  cultivation  by  the 
American  race  before  the  Columbian  discovery.  But  the  ancient 
native  habitat  of  this  species,  the  only  one  of  its  genus,  has  not 
been  surely  ascertained.  As  a  wild  plant,  it  may  have  become 
extinct.  How  long  it  has  been  cultivated,  we  cannot  closely  es- 
timate; but  its  very  diverse  varieties,  like  those  of  many  culti- 
vated plants,  point  to  a  great  antiquity. 

Speedily  after  Columbus  and  his  successors  established  com- 
merce between  the  New  and  Old  Worlds,  maize  was  carried  into 
Europe  and  Asia,  and  became  a  staple  crop  in  many  countries, 


116  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 

from  the  Mediterranean  region  to  China.  Today  it  feeds  more 
people  than  any  other  article  of  food,  excepting  perhaps  rice. 

A  good  exhibition  of  aboriginal  agriculture  in  Minnesota, 
untaught  by  white  men,  was  seen  by  me  in  September,  1885, 
at  the  0  jib  way  village  a  mile  southeast  of  the  Narrows  of  Red 
lake.  This  largest  village  of  the  Ojibways  in  this  state  then 
consisted  of  thirty  or  forty  permanent  bark  lodges,  scattered  on 
an  area  reaching  a  half  mile  from  northwest  to  southeast  and 
about  an  eighth  of  a  mile  wide.  Adjoining  the  village  were 
fields  of  ripening  Indian  corn,  amounting  to  about  fifty  acres, 
besides  about  five  acres  of  potatoes  and  probably  an  acre  or  more 
of  pumpkins  amd  squashes.  These  crops  showed  a  luxuriant 
growth  and  abundant  yield,  and  the  weeds  among  them  had  been 
held  in  check  by  hoeing.  During  the  spring,  summer,  and  au- 
tumn, most  of  the  one  hundred  and  fifty  or  two  hundred  inhabi- 
tants of  this  village  are  usually  absent  in  expeditions  for  hunting, 
and  in  successive  portions  of  the  season  to  make  maple  sugar, 
to  gather  Seneca  snakeroot  for  sale,  to  pick  cranberries,  and  to 
reap  the  natural  harvest  of  wild  rice  (Zizania  aquatica  L.) 
which  grows  plentifully  in  the  streams  and  shallow  lakes  of  that 
region. 

In  the  prairie  country  of  Minnesota,  the  Dakotas,  and  the 
far  western  plains,  the  place  of  the  wild  rice  is  partially  sup- 
plied by  the  very  nutritive,  turnip-like  root  of  the  pomme  de 
terre  (Psoralea  escidenta  Pursh),  from  which  plant  the  Pomme 
de  Terre  river  in  the  west  part  of  this  state  is  named.  The  root 
of  this  species,  common  southwestward,  is  dried,  pulverized, 
and  used  as  flour  by  the  Sioux,  being  their  most  valuable  wild 
vegetable  product  to  supplement  their  formerly  habitual  main 
diet  of  game  and  fish. 

NAMES   OP  INDIAN  DERIVATION. 

Only  a  few  words  have  been  adopted  into  common  use  in 
our  language  from  the  original  American  languages  of  the  red 
men.  Intimately  connected  with  the  life  of  the  Indian  were  the 
Algonquian  wigwam  and  the  Sioux  tepee;  the  tomahawk  of  war; 


THE  EED  MEN.  117 

•wampum,  which  served  as  money  and  for  ornament,  and  the 
quahog  or  round  clam  of  the  Atlantic  shores,  from  whose  shell 
the  wampum  was  made;  the  powwow,  or  Indian  council,  and  the 
sachem,  or  the  sagamore,  who  presided;  the  squaw,  and  the  pa- 
poose; succotash,  or  corn  and  beans  cooked  together,  a  favorite 
Indian  dish,  as  also  pone,  samp,  hominy,  and  pemmican;  the 
tamale,  a  highly  seasoned  mixture  'of  crushed  Indian  corn  and 
minced  meat,  wrapped  in  cornshucks  and  haked  or  steamed;  the 
barbecue,  or  roasting  of  a  large  animal  entire;  the  hurricane  of 
the  West  Indies  and  our  southeastern  coast;  the  muskegs,  or 
mossy  marshes,  of  the  Canadian  Northwest ;  the*.,  totem,  the 
canoe,  the  toboggan,  and  the  moccasin.  From  the  Indians,  too, 
is  derived  the  wangun,  in  which  are  stored  the  supplies  of  the 
lumbering  camp  and  of  driving  logs  on  the  rivers. 

Several  of  our  mammalian  animals,  in  a  larger  proportion 
than  inanimate  objects  familiar  to  the  Indians,  retain  their 
aboriginal  names,  though  often  with  changes  of  form  and  pro- 
nunciation. Thus  we  have,  from  their  languages,  the  moose  and 
the  caribou;  the  puma,  and  his  other  name,  cougar;  the  coyote, 
racoon,  and  opossum;  the  skunk,  the  musquash,  the  woodchuck, 
and  the  chipmunk. 

Of  freshwater  and  marine  fishes,  the  maskalonge  (with 
variable  spelling),  the  menhaden,  tarpon  (probably),  tautog,  and 
tomcod,  are  Indian  names,  some  of  them  much  changed  and  an- 
glicized. 

Among  species  or  genera  of  plants  first  known  in  America, 
a  considerable  number  bear  Indian  names,  as  maize,  the  potato, 
the  tomato,  the  squash,  the  tuckahoe,  the  persimmon,  the  catalpa, 
the  chinkapin,  the  hickory,  the  tamarack  or  hackmatack,  cohosh, 
puccoon,  kinnikinick,  and  tobacco. 

Geographic  names  given  by  the  red  men  far  more  abun- 
dantly survive  their  departure,  and  these  memorials  will  endure 
as  long  as  this  country  shall  be  occupied  by  our  white  race.  All 
over  America,  from  the  Arctic  sea  to  Patagonia,  many  aboriginal 
names  are  preserved  by  brooks,  creeks,  rivers,  lakes,  hills  and 
mountains,  and  by  the  white  man's  villages,  cities,  counties,  and 
states. 


118  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 

In  Minnesota  these  names  derived  from  the  Dakota  or 
Sioux  language  have  been  quite  fully  noted  in  a  paper  of  nine 
pages  by  Prof.  A.  W.  Williamson,  of  Augustana  College,  Rock 
Island,  111.,  who  was  brought  up  in  the  area  of  this  state,  his 
father,  Rev.  Thomas  S.  Williamson,  having  come  here  in  1835 
a?  one  of  the  first  missionaries  to  the  Sioux.  A  similar  but 
longer  paper,  in  twenty-seven  pages,  on  our  geographic  names  of 
Ojibway  origin,  has  been  prepared  by  Rev.  J.  A.  Gilfillan,  who 
was  long  a  missionary  among  that  people.  These  exceedingly 
interesting  papers  are  published  respectively  in  the  Thirteenth 
and  Fifteenth  Annual  Reports  of  the  Geological  and  Natural 
History  Survey  of  Minnesota,  for  the  years  1884  and  1886. 

Extensive  additional  manuscripts  on  Ojibway  proper  names, 
both  of  places  and  persons,  have  been  donated  by  Mr.  Gilfillan 
to  the  Minnesota  Historical  Society.  The  place  names  in  these 
lists,  and  notes  of  the  origin  and  meaning  of  all  geographic 
names  in  this  state,  now  being  compiled  and  alphabetically 
arranged  by  the  present  writer,  are  expected  to  be  published  as 
one  of  the  volumes  of  this  society's  Historical  Collections. 

Minnesota  receives  its  name  from  the  longest  river  which 
lies  wholly  within  this  state,  excepting  only  its  sources  above 
Big  Stone  lake.  During  a  hundred  and  sixty  years,  up  to  the 
time  of  the  organization  of  Minnesota  Territory,  in  1849,  the 
name  St.  Pierre,  or  St.  Peter,  had  been  generally  applied  to 
this  river  by  French  and  English  explorers  and  writers,  probably 
in  honor  of  Pierre  Charles  Le  Sueur,  its  first  white  explorer. 
The  aboriginal  Sioux  name  Minnesota  means  sky-tinted  water 
(Minne,  water,  and  sota,  somewhat  clouded),  as  Neill  assures 
us,  on  the  authority  of  Rev.  Gideon  H.  Pond.  The  river  at 
its  stages  of  flood  becomes  whitishly  turbid.  An  illustration  of 
the  meaning  of  the  word  is  told  to  me  by  Mrs.  Moses  N.  Adams, 
the  widow  of  the  venerable  missionary  of  the  Dakotas.  She 
states  that  at  various  times  the  Dakota  women  explained  it  to 
her  by  dropping  a  little  milk  into  water  and  calling  the  whit- 
ishly clouded  water  "Minne  sota."  This  name  was  proposed  by 
General  Sibley  and  Hon.  Morgan  L.  Martin,  of  Wisconsin,  in 
the  years  1846  to  1848,  as  the  name  of  the  new  territory,  which 


THE  BED  MEN.  119 

thus  followed  the  example  of  Wisconsin  in  adopting  the  title  of 
a  large  stream-  within  its  borders.  During  the  next  few  years 
after  the  selection  of  the  territorial  name  Minnesota,  it  displaced 
the  name  St.  Peter  as  applied  in  common  usage  by  the  white 
people  to  the  river,  whose  euphonious  ancient  Dakota  title  will 
continue  to  be  borne  by  the  river  and  the  state  probably  long 
after  the  Dakota  language  shall  cease  to  be  spoken. 

The  name  Itasca,  devised  in  1832  by  Schoolcraft  for  the 
lake  at  the  head  of  the  Mississippi,  had  been  urged  by  Kev.  Wil- 
liam T.  Boutwell  for  the  territory.  Other  names  were  suggested 
in  the  discussions  of  Congress,  as  Chippeway,  Jackson,  and  Wash- 
ington. Final  choice  of  the  name  Minnesota  was  virtually  de- 
cided in  the  convention  held  at  Stillwater  on  August  26,  1848, 
which  petitioned  to  Congress  for  territorial  organization. 

Carver  was  the  earliest  author  to  record  this  Sioux  name  of 
the  river.  He  spelled  it  Menesoter  in  his  Travels,  and  Minesoter 
on  the  accompanying  map.  It  was  spelled  Menesota  by  Long 
and  Keating;  Menisothe  by  Beltrami;  Mini-sotah  by  Nicollet; 
Minnay  Sotor  by  Featherstonhaugh ;  Minesota  by  Hon.  M.  L. 
Martin  and  Hon.  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  in  bills  introduced  by 
them  respectively  in  the  House  and  Senate  for  organization  of 
the  territory;  and  Minnesota  by  Hon.  H.  H.  Sibley  at  the  Still- 
water  convention. 

Similarly  the  Mississippi,  having  its  source  and  receiving 
its  name  in  this  state,  will  retain  for  all  time  that  Algonquian 
title,  which  means  simply  the  Great  Eiver.  Such  it  is,  being  the 
second  among  the  great  rivers  of  the  world,  surpassed  only  by 
the  Amazon. 

.  Jean  Nicolet,  the  first  white  explorer  of  Wisconsin,  in  the 
winter  of  1634-35,  went  from  Lake  Michigan  and  Green  bay  to 
Lake  Winnebago  and  the  upper  Fox  river,  and  learned  there 
from  the  Indians  that  the  sea,  as  he  understood  them  to  say, 
was  within  three  days'  travel  farther  to  the  southwest.  What 
he  heard  of  was  the  Mississippi  river. 

It  was  first  made  known  by  name  to  Europeans  in  the 
Jesuit  Kelation  of  1666-67,  published  in  Paris  in  1668,  which 
mentions  "the  great  river  named  Messipi."  The  Relation  of 


120  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 

1670-71  gave  a  more  definite  description  as  follows:  "It  is  a 
Southward  course  that  is  taken  by  the  great  river  called  by  the 
natives  Missisipi,  which  must  empty  somewhere  in  the  region  of 
the  Florida  sea,  more  than  four  hundred  leagues  hence  [from 
the  upper  Great  Lakes]  *  *  *  Some  Savages  have  assured 
us  that  this  is  so  noble  a  river  that,  at  more  than  three  hundred 
leagues'  distance  from  its  mouth,  it  is. larger  than  the  one  flowing 
before  Quebec;  for  they  declare  that  it  is  more  than  a  league 
wide  [referring  probably  to  its  expansion  in  Lake  Pepin]. 
They  also  state  that  all  this  vast  stretch  of  country  consists  of 
nothing  but  treeless  prairies." 

Earlier  names  had  been  given  by  the  Spaniards  to  this  river 
in  its  Tower  part,  seen  by  their  expeditions.  Thus,  on  the  map 
resulting  from  Pineda's  exploration  of  the  Gulf  coast  in  1519, 
the  Mississippi  is  named  Rio  del  Espiritu  Santo  (River  of  the 
Holy  Spirit) ;  and  it  continued  to  be  commonly  or  frequently 
mapped  under  that  name  until  its  present  Algonquian  designa- 
tion was  generally  adopted. 

Father  Marquette,  writing  of  his  canoe  voyage  on  this 
river  in  1673,  with  Joliet,  called  it  the  Missisipi,  but  his  map 
named  it  "R.  de  la  Conception."' 

Hennepin,  in  the  first  edition  of  his  travels,  published  in 
Paris  in  1683,  called  the  Mississippi  the  River  Colbert,  for  the 
great  French  statesman  who  died  that  year,  and  so  mapped  it; 
but  later  editions  named  and  mapped  it  as  "Le  Grand  Fleuve 
Meschasipi." 

La  Salle,  writing  August  22,  1682,  designated  it  as  "the 
river  Colbert,  named  by  the  Iroquois  Gastacha,  by  the  Ottawas 
the  Mississipy."  Elsewhere,  however,  in  the  same  and  other 
writings,  La  Salle  and  his  companions  more  commonly  used  only 
the  latter  name,  spelling  it  Mississipi. 

Perrot,  after  spending  many  years  on  the  upper  part  of  this 
river,  in  his  Memoir  written  in  1718  or  within  two  or  three 
years  later,  spoke  of  "the  Micissypy,  which  is  now  named  the 
Louisianne;"  and  a  French  map  published  in  1718  gives  the 
name  as  "the  Missisipi  or  St.  Louis." 


THE  BED  MEN.  121 

Carver,  who  traveled  into  the  area  of  Minnesota  in  1766, 
described  and  mapped  this  river  with  its  present  spelling,  Mis- 
sissippi, which  was  followed  by  Pike,  Cass  and  Schoolcraft,  Long 
and  Keating,  Beltrami,  and  all  later  writers.  Before  this  form 
became  fully  established,  the  name,  as  printed  in  books  and  maps, 
had  many  variations,  which,  according  to  an  estimate  by  Dr. 
Elliott  Coues,  number  probably  thirty  or  more. 

The  first  part  of  the  name,  Missi,  means  Great,  being  akin 
to  the  modern  Ojibway  word,  Kitchi,  great,  or  Gitche,  as  it  is 
spelled  by  Longfellow  in  "The  Song  of  Hiawatha;"  and  the  sec- 
ond part,  sippi,  otherwise  spelled  sipi  or  sebe,  or  zibi,  is  the 
common  Algonquian  or  Ojibway  word  for  a  river.  This  name, 
received  from  the  Ojibways  and  other  Algonquins  by  the  ear- 
liest French  missionaries  and  traders  in  the  upper  Mississippi 
region,  though  used  by  these  Indians  only  for  the  upper  part  of 
the  river  as  known  to  them,  was  extended  by  Marquette  and  La 
Salle  to  its  entire  course,  displacing  the  numerous  former  In- 
dian names  which  had  been  applied  to  its  lower  part. 

Eev.  J.  A.  Gilfillan  writes:  "Below  the  junction  of  Leech 
Lake  river,  it  is  called  Kitchi-zibi,  or  Great  river.  I  cannot 
find  by  inquiry  that  the  Chippewas  [Ojibways]  have  ever 
called  it  Missizibi  (Mississippi)  or  Missazibi.  But  I  consider  it 
very  probable  that  in  remote  times  they  did,  for  Missa-zibi 
(Mississippi)  would  express  the  same  idea  in  their  language,  and 
would  be  proper,  as  witness  Missa-sagaiigun  (Mille  Lacs),  mean- 
ing Great  lake.  It  so  exactly  corresponds  with  their  language 
that  it  must  have  been  taken  from  it." 

Endeavoring  to  translate  more  fully  the  aboriginal  signi- 
ficance of  Missi,  Gannett  says  that  Mississippi  means  "great 
irater,"  or  "gathering  in  of  all  the  waters,"  and  "an  almost  endless 
river  spread  out." 

The  phrase,  "Father  of  Waters,"  popularly  given  to  this  river, 
has  no  warrant,  as  Featherstonhaugh  and  Schoolcraft  affirm,  in  the 
Algonquian  name.  In  1854  Schoolcraft  wrote:  "The  prefixed 
word  Missi  is  an  adjective  denoting  all,  and,  when  applied 
to  various  waters,  means  the  collected  or  assembled  mass  of  them 
*  *  *  It  is  only  symbolically  that  is  can  be  called  the  Fa- 


122  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 

ther  of  American  rivers,  unless  such,  sense  occurs  in  the  other 
Indian  tongues." 

From  the  Ojibways  we  receive  also  the  following  names  of 
Minnesota  rivers  and  lakes:  Manitou  river,  flowing  into  Lake 
Superior;  Saganaga  lake,  meaning  surrounded  by  thick  forests, 
on  our  northern  boundary;  Kawishiwi  river,  meaning  full  of 
beaver's  houses;  the  Eshquaguma  lake,  meaning  the  last  in  a 
series ;  Lake  Bemidji,  meaning  Cross  lake,  because  the  head  stream 
of  the  Mississippi  crosses  it,  flowing  in  at  one  side  and  out  at 
the  opposite  side;  Lake  Winnebagoshish,  meaning  wretched  and 
dirty  water,  because  this  large  shallow  lake  is  much  roiled  by  its 
waves  under  heavy  winds;  Pokegama  lake,  having  bays  branch- 
ing off;  Sisabagama  lake,  five  miles  east-southeast  of  Aitkin, 
meaning  the  lake  with  arms  running  in  all  directions;  and 
Nokasippi,  meaning  the  river  of  an  Indian  having  the  totem  of 
the  bear. 

Other  Ojibway  names  are  the  Misquah  hills,  meaning  red, 
north  of  Lake  Superior,  having  the  greatest  altitude  in  this  state; 
the  Mesabi  range  of  high  lands,  meaning  the  Gianf  s  range,  famed 
for  its  marvelously  rich  deposits  of  iron  ore;  Biwabik,  a  mining 
town  there,  meaning  iron;  Chippewa  river  and  county,  named  for 
these  Ojibway  or  Chippewa  people;  Chisago  lakes  and  county, 
named  by  Mr.  W.  H.  C.  Folsom,  from  Ojibway  words  meaning 
large  and  beautiful;  Kanabec  county  (accented  on  the  second 
syllable),  meaning  snake,  from  the  Ojibway  name  of  the  Snake 
river;  and  Wadena,  the  name  of  a  county  and  its  largest  town 
and  county  seat,  for  the  old  Wadena  trading  past,  which  was 
situated  in  the  southeastern  part  of  this  county,  on  the  Crow 
Wing  river  between  the  mouths  of  the  Leaf  and  Partridge  rivers. 
This  last  name,  an  obsolete  Ojibway  word,  signifies  "a  little 
round  hill,"  and  may  refer  to  the  rounded  outlines  of  the  Crow 
Wing  bluffs  at  the  old  Wadena  ferry.  It  is  also  a  somewhat  com- 
mon personal  name  of  men  in  this  tribe. 

The  two  new  counties  of  Minnesota,  Koochiching  and  Mah- 
nomen,  whose  establishment  was  completed  by  proclamations  of 
the  governor  in  December,  1906,  bear  Ojibway  names. 


THE  EED  MEN.  123 

Koochiching  is  the  name  applied  by  the  0  jib  ways  to  Eainy 
lake.,  and  also  to  the  Eainy  river  and  to  its  great  falls  and  rapids 
at  the  town  of  International  Falls.  It  is  translated  by  Eev.  J.  A. 
Gilfillan  as  Neighbor  lake  and  river,  or,  under  another  interpre- 
tation, a  lake  and  river  somewhere.  He  remarks  that  this  word 
is  of  difficult  or  uncertain  meaning,  and  that,  although  in  com- 
mon Ojibway  use,  it  does  not  strictly  belong  to  that  language. 

Mahnomen  is  the  Ojibway  name  of  the  wild  rice.  From  this 
excellent  native  grain  we  have  also  the  English  name  of  the  Wild 
Eice  lakes  and  of  the  Wild  Eice  river,  which  has  its  source  in 
these  lakes  and  flows  through  Mahnomen  county.  The  same  word 
has  been  often  spelled  Manomin,  and  in  this  spelling  was  the* 
name  of  a  former  very  small  county  of  this  state  between  Anoka 
and  St.  Anthony  (the  east  part  of  Minneapolis),  existing  from 
185?  to  1869.  With  other  orthographic  variations,  it  appears  in 
the  names  of  the  Menominee  tribe  of  Indians,  Menominee  river, 
county,  and  city,  in  Michigan,  and  Menomonee  river,  as  well  as 
the  towns  of  Menomonee  Falls  and  Menomonie,  in  Wisconsin. 

One  of  our  most  interesting  Indian  names  is  that  of  the 
Watab  river,  tributary  to  the  Mississippi  from  the  west  about  five 
miles  north  of  St.  Cloud.  This  is  the  Ojibway  word  for  the 
long  and  very  slender  roots  of  both  the  tamarack  and  the  jack 
pine,  which  were  dug  by  the  Indians,  split  and  used  as  threads 
in  sewing  their  birch  bark  canoes.  Both  these  coniferous  trees 
grow  on  or  near  the  lower  part  of  the  Watab  river. 

The  same  name  has  also  a  historical  interest  from  the  for- 
mer Watab  trading  post,  about  two  miles  and  a  half  north  from 
the  mouth  of  the  Watab  river  and  on  the  opposite  or  eastern  side 
of  the  Mississippi.  During  about  ten  years  next  following  its 
establishment  in  1848,  Watab  was  the  most  important  commer- 
cial place  in  Minnesota  Territory  northwestward  from  St.  Paul; 
but  later  it  was  superseded  by  Sauk  Eapids  and  St.  Cloud,  and 
before  1880  the  village  entirely  disappeared. 

In  the  same  part  of  this  state,  the  Sauk  river,  Sauk  Eapids, 
Sauk  Centre,  the  Sauk  lakes,  and  also  Lake  Osakis,  preserve  a 
record  of  the  former  presence  of  Sauk  or  Sac  Indians  there. 
Likewise  the  high  Assiniboine  bluff  of  the  Mississippi  valley,  in 


124  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 

the  north  part  of  Goodhue  county  opposite  to  the  southern  end 
of  Prairie  island,  tells  of  some  Indian  of  the  Assiniboine  tribe, 
or  a  party  of  them,  who  traveled  or  perhaps  once  lived  there. 

From  the  Sioux  language,  in  addition  to  the  name  of  the 
Minnesota  river  and  of  this  state,  before  noted,  we  have  the  fol- 
lowing geographic  names,  which  are  arranged  in  alphabetic 
order : 

Anoka,  on  both  sides,  the  name  given  by  its  founders  to  the 
city  laid  out  on  both  sides  of  the  Rum  river  near  its  mouth,  and 
thence  applied  to  the  county; 

Chaska,  a  town  bearing  this  name  of  the  firstborn  of  a 
Sioux  family  if  a  son,  as  Winona,  a  city  and  county,  is  the  com- 
mon or  frequent  Sioux  name  bestowed  on  the  firstborn  if  a 
(laughter ; 

Cokato  and  Chokio,  names  of  two  railway  villages,  mean- 
ing at  the  middle; 

Dakota,  a  county,  and  also  a  village,  meaning  an  alliance  or 
league,  especially  that  of  the  many  Sioux  bands  or  tribes; 

Eyota,  greatest,  or  most,  a  township  and  village  in  Olmsted 
county ; 

Hokah,  a  root,  formerly  the  name  of  the  Root  river,  and 
now  a  township  and  village  near  its  mouth; 

Isanti,  from  isan,  knife,  applied  to  a  county,  township,  and 
village,  named  for  the  great  Isanti  band  or  tribe,  anciently  Izatys, 
now  Santees; 

Kandiyohi  lakes,  village,  township,  and  county,  meaning 
where  the  buffalo  fish  come; 

Kaposia,  light,  of  little  weight,  referring  to  swiftness  of  run- 
ning, designating  the  Sioux  band  of  successive  hereditary  chiefs 
named  Little  Crow,  and  their  village,  long  occupied  on  a  part 
of  the  site  of  South  St.  Paul; 

Kasota,  a  village  and  township,  noted  for  limestone  quarries, 
meaning  clear  or  cleared  off; 

Mahtomedi,  meaning  White  Bear  lake,  applied  to  a  village, 
largely  of  summer  homes,  on  the  northeast  side  of  this  lake; 

Mahtowa,  a  township  of  Carlton  county,  also  referring  to  « 
white  bear  or  a  grizzly  bear; 


THE  BED  MEN.  125 

Mankato,  the  largest  city  on  the  Minnesota  river,  meaning 
blue  earth,  the  Sioux  name  of  the  Blue  Earth  river,  more  prop- 
erly to  be  spelled  Mahkahto,  if  we  give  the  aboriginal  pronun- 
ciation ; 

Mendota,  the  village  at  the  junction  of  the  Minnesota  and 
Mississippi  rivers,  meaning  the  mouth  of  a  river; 

Minneapolis,  meaning  water  city,  a  name  half  Sioux  and  half 
Greek,  adopted  in  1852; 

Minnehaha,  meaning  literally  a  waterfall,  or,  speaking  poeti- 
cally, laughing  water,  a  name  compounded  of  Sioux  words  by 
white  people; 

Minneiska,  white  water,  a  township  and  village  in  Wabasha 
county ; 

Minneola  and  Minneota,  referring  to  water,  names  respec- 
tively of  a  township  in  Goodhue  county  and  a  village  in  Lyon 
county ; 

Minneopa,  the  second  water,  the  name  of  the  lower  one  of 
two  waterfalls  near  together  on  Minneopa  creek,  now  comprised 
in  a  state  park; 

Minnetonka,  big  water,  the  name  given  to  this  large  and  very 
beautiful  lake  by  Governor  Ramsey  and  others  of  an  exploring 
party  in  1852; 

Minnewashta,  good  water,  the  large  lake  in  Pope  county  for- 
merly called  White  Bear  lake,  and  afterward  Lake  Whipple; 

The  Okabena  lakes,  at  Worthington,  meaning  the  resting 
place  of  herons; 

The  city  of  Owatonna,  meaning  straight,  this  having  been 
the  Sioux  name  of  the  Straight  river; 

The  city  of  Shakopee,  bearing  the  hereditary  name  of  a 
Sioux  chief,  meaning  Six,  while  his  son  was  named  Shakpidan, 
Little  Six; 

Tintah,  a  prairie,  the  name  of  a  township  and  railway  vil- 
lage in  Traverse  county,  and  of  a  beach  of  the  Glacial  Lake 
Agassiz ; 

Wabasha,  a  city  and  county,  and  one  of  the  principal  streets 
in  St.  Paul,  meaning  red  battle  standard,  the  hereditary  name  of 


126  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 

successive  Sioux  chiefs,  whose  village  was  on  or  near  the  site  of 
Winona; 

Wacouta,  he  shoots,  the  name  of  a  Sioux  chief  whose  band 
lived  on  the  site  of  the  city  of  Red  Wing,  applied  to  a  small 
township  next  east  of  that  city; 

Waseca,  a  city  and  county,  meaning  rich  or  fertile; 

Wasioja,  the  place  of  pines,  a  township  and  village  in  Dodge 
county; 

Wayzata,  at  the  north,  a  village  on  the  north  side  of  the 
eastern  end  of  Lake  Minnetonka; 

Watonwan  river  and  county,  meaning,  as  told  me  by  Rev. 
M.  N.  Adams,  fish  bait,  or  where  fish  bait  abounds; 

And  Winona,  a  city  and  county,  already  defined  in  its  Sioux 
meaning  as  correlative  with  Chaska,  in  the  early  part  of  this  list. 

It  may  properly  be  noticed  that  two  well  known  names  in 
this  state,  those  of  Itasca  lake  and  county  and  the  Zumbro  river, 
with  the  village  and  township  of  Zumbrota,  are  not  of  Indian  or- 
igin, although  one  or  both  might  be  supposed  to  be  so.  Itasca 
was  coined  by  Schoolcraft  from  the  Latin  words,  veritas,  truth, 
and  caput,  head,  joining  them  together  and  eliding  the  initial 
and  final  syllables,  to  designate  the  true  head  or  source  of  the 
Mississippi ;  and  Zumbro  is  a  corrupted  form  of  the  French  words, 
des  Embarras,  applied  to  this  river  because  of  its  difficulties  for 
canoeing. 

Besides  the  many  Ojibway  and  Sioux  names  here  cata- 
logued, a  much  greater  number  of  our  Minnesota  geographic 
names,  applied  to  hundreds  of  creeks,  rivers,  lakes,  townships, 
villages,  etc.,  are  derived  from  the  Indian  names,  being  directly 
translated  into  English.  This  part  of  our  inheritance  from  the 
aboriginal  owners  of  this  area,  and  the  names  which  we  have  noted 
as  still  retained  in  their  own  languages,  are  the  most  ancient 
memorials  preserved  in  our  history  and  literature,  always  to  re- 
main but  seldom  to  be  thought  of  in  their  full  significance. 


Chapter  VI. 

GROSEILLIERS  AND  RADISSON,  THE  FIRST  WHITE 
MEN  IN  MINNESOTA. 

PUBLICATION   OF  RADISSON'S   MANUSCRIPT. 

THE  narratives  of  the  earliest  travels  and  exploration  by 
Europeans  within  the  area  of  Minnesota,  written  by  one 
of  the  two  hardy  adventurers  whose  experiences  are  there 
chronicled,  remained  unknown  to  historians  during  more  than  two 
hundred  years.  This  precious  manuscript  record,  beginning  the 
history  of  the  occupation  of  our  state  by  white  men,  is  said  by  its 
editor,  Gideon  D.  Scull,  of  London,  to  have  been  "for  some  time 
the  property  of  Samuel  Pepys,  the  well-known  diarist,  and  Sec- 
retary of  the  Admiralty  to  Charles  II  and  James  II.  He  prob- 
ably received  it,"  as  the  editor  further  states,  "from  Sir  George 
Cartaret,  the  Vice-Chamberlain  of  the  King  and  Treasurer  of 
the  Navy,  for  whom  it  was  no  doubt  carefully  copied  out  from 
his  rough  notes  by  the  author,  so  that  it  might,  through  him,  be 
brought  under  the  notice  of  Charles  II.  Some  years  after  the 
death  of  Pepys,  in  1703,  his  collection  of  manuscripts  was  dis- 
persed and  fell  into  the  hands  of  various  London  tradesmen,  who 
bought  parcels  of  it  to  use  in  their  shops  as  waste-paper.  The 
most  valuable  portions  were  carefully  reclaimed  by  the  celebrated 
collector,  Richard  Rawlinson."  The  papers  relating  the  ex- 
peditions of  Groseilliers  and  Radisson  to  the  upper  Laurentian 
lakes  and  the  upper  Mississippi  river  came  into  the  possession 
of  the  Bodleian  Library,  at  Oxford  University;  and  other  manu- 

127 


128  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 

scripts,  relating  their  service  later  for  the  Hudson  Bay  Com- 
pany, were  purchased  by  the  British  Museum. 

In  these  two  largest  libraries  of  England,  the  quaint  nar- 
ratives of  Radisson  rested  in  quiet  until  about  twenty  years  ago 
they  were  published  by  the  Prince  Society  of  Boston,  which 
is  devoted  to  the  preservation  and  publication  of  rare  original 
documents  relating  to  early  American  history.  The  title-page 
reads  as  follows:  "Voyages  of  Peter  Esprit  Radisson,  being  an 
Account  of  his  Travels  and  Experiences  among  the  North  Am- 
erican Indians,  from  1652  to  1684.  Transcribed  from  original 
Manuscripts  in  the  Bodleian  Library  and  the  British  Museum. 
With  Historical  Illustrations  and  an  Introduction,  by  Gideon 
D.  Scull,  London,  England.  Boston:  Published  by  the  Prince 
Society,  1885."  It  is  a  small  quarto  book  of  385  pages.  The 
edition  was  limited  to  two  hundred  and  fifty  copies,  one  of  which 
is  in  the  Library  of  the  Minnesota  Historical  Society,  and  an- 
other in  the  Duluth  Public  Library. 

By  this  book  Groseilliers  and  Radisson  are  made  known  to 
the  world  as  the  first  Europeans  to  reach  the  upper  Mississippi 
river  and  to  traverse  parts  of  Minnesota.  It  is  a  source  of 
much  regret,  however,  that  Radisson  is  found  to  claim  more 
discoveries  than  can  be  true.  His  narration,  besides  being  very 
uncouth  in  style,  is  exceedingly  deficient  in  dates,  sometimes 
negligent  as  to  the  sequence  of  events,  and  even  here  and  there 
discordant  and  demonstrably  untruthful.  Therefore  much  dis- 
cussion has  arisen  concerning  its  significance  and  historical 
value. 

BIOGRAPHIC   SKETCHES   OF   GROSEILLIERS   AND 
RADISSON. 

Previous  to  this  publication,  history  had  a  general  outline 
of  the  achievements  of  these  remarkable  men,  who  were  brothers- 
in-law,  close  friends,  and  lifelong  companions  in  various  enter- 
prises demanding  great  courage  and  endurance. 

Medard  Chouart,  more  commonly  known  by  his  assumed 
title  Sieur  dee  Groseilliers,  was  born  in  France,  probably  near 


v  ^    {  /*-   X. 

"-,     ^          >-,<•" 

?  ^    %'-       L     n  *A  c**a™*u£ 


PORTION   OF    MAP    MADE    BY   J.    B.    FRAXQUELIX,    1688. 


GROSEILLIERS   AND  RADISSON.  129 

Meaux,  in  1621.  At  the  age  of  twenty  years,  or  perhaps  three 
or  four  years  earlier,  he  came  to  Canada.  During  several  years, 
until  1646,  he  was  in  the  service  of  the  Jesuits  as  a  layman 
helper  in  their  missions  to  the  Indians,  and  thus  learned  the 
Huron  and  Algonquin  languages.  Afterward  he  was  a  fur 
trader,  probably  making  yearly  trips  to  the  country  of  the 
Hurons.  In  1647  he  married  Helene,  a  daughter  of  Abraham 
Martin,  from  whom  the  historic  Plains  of  Abraham  at  Quebec 
received  their  name.  His  wife  died  in  1651,  and  two  years  later 
he  married  Marguerite,  a  sister  of  Radisson.  Thenceforward 
these  brothers-in-law  were  closely  associated  in  important  ex- 
plorations and  extension  of  trade  with  the  Indians  of  the  North- 
west and  the  region  of  Hudson  bay. 

Pierre  Esprit  Radisson  was  also  born  in  France,  probably 
at  St.  Malo,  a  seaport  of  Brittany.  In  1651,  at  the  age  of  only 
fifteen  or  sixteen  years,  he  came  to  Canada,  and  lived  with  his 
parents  at  Three  Rivers.  Previously  he  had  seen  Paris,  Lon- 
don, Italy,  and  Turkey,  being  probably  a  sailor.  In  England 
and  from  English  sailors  he  may  have  acquired  our  language 
in  boyhood,  which  he  afterward  wrote  with  such  facility  of 
colloquial  and  idiomatic  expression,  in  the  narratives  published 
by  the  Prince  Society. 

The  next  year  after  his  arrival  in  Canada,  Radisson  was 
captured  by  a  roving  band  of  the  Iroquois,  with  whom  he  lived 
about  a  year  in  their  country,  on  the  Mohawk  river.  Escaping 
to  Fort  Orange  (now  Albany),  he  reached  New  Amsterdam 
(now  New  York),  and  sailed  to  Holland  and  thence  to  Ro- 
chelle,  France.  In  the  spring  of  1654  he  returned  to  Three 
Rivers  in  Canada.  This  captivity  is  the  first  of  the  four  "voy- 
ages" of  Radisson  narrated  in  the  published  volume. 

During  the  next  six  years,  1654  to  1660,  Groseilliers  and 
Radisson  made  two  expeditions  for  exploration  and  traffic  in 
furs,  going  farther  westward  than  any  white  man  preceding 
them.  In  these  expeditions,  called  voyages  by  Radisson,  they 
passed  beyond  the  upper  great  lakes,  Michigan  and  Superior, 
penetrating  to  the  area  of  Minnesota;  and  the  narration  asserts 
that  in  the  second  expedition  they  traveled  to  Hudson  bay. 

I.-7 


130  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 

When  they  returned  from  the  second  expedition,  which  had 
been  undertaken  without  permission  from  the  Governor  of 
Canada,  he  imposed  heavy  fines  upon  them  and  a  duty  of  25 
per  cent,  on  the  value  of  their  furs.  To  seek  redress  for  this 
injustice,  Groseilliers  went  to  France,  but  his  appeal  was  in  vain. 
They  next  entered  the  service  of  Boston  merchants,  and  sailed 
in  a  New  England  ship  to  Hudson  strait  in  the  autumn  of  1663; 
but,  on  account  of  the  lateness  of  the  season,  the  captain  re- 
fused to  advance  into  Hudson  bay,  where  they  designed  to  es- 
tablish trading  posts. 

In  1665,  having  laid  their  plans  for  trade  in  the  Hudson 
Bay  region  before  commissioners  of  the  King  of  Great  Britain, 
whom  he  had  sent  to  New  York  and  New  England,  Groseilliers 
and  Radisson  went  with  one  of  these  commissioners,  Sir  George 
Cartwright,  to  England.  Under  the  patronage  of  Charles  II, 
they  aided  in  founding  the  Hudson  Bay  Company,  which  re- 
ceived its  charter  in  1670.  The  commercial  power  which  they 
would  have  preferred  to  bestow  on  their  own  country  was  thus 
given  to  Great  Britain.  Radisson  about  this  time  married  an 
English  wife,  the  daughter  of  John  Kirke,  who  became  one  of 
the  directors  of  this  company. 

In  1674,  because  of  a  dispute  with  the  Hudson  Bay  Com- 
pany, Groseilliers  and  Radisson  transferred  their  allegiance 
again  to  France,  and  through  the  next  ten  years  were  active  in 
advancing  French  colonization  and  commerce.  In  their  renewed 
loyalty,  they  endeavored  to  supplant  the  English  in  the  Hudson 
Bay  trade  by  building  a  French  trading  post  on  the  Nelson  river, 
near  its  mouth,  and  there  captured  a  New  England  ship. 

During  the  consequent  negotiations,  however,  between  the 
French  and  English  governments,  Groseilliers  and  Radisson 
considered  themselves  unjustly  treated  by  the  French  court;  and, 
being  welcomed  back  by  the  directors  of  the  Hudson  Bay  Com- 
pany, Radisson  once  more  entered  their  service.  According  to 
his  own  words,  he  then,  in  May,  1684,  "passed  over  to  England 
for  good,  and  of  engaging  myself  so  strongly  to  the  service  of 
his  Majesty,  and  to  the  interests  of  the  Nation,  that  any  other 
consideration  was  never  able  to  detach  me  from  it." 


GROSEILLIERS   AND   RADISSON.  131 

Groseilliers,  on  the  contrary,  declined  to  accept  the  salary 
or  pension  offered  to  him  by  the  Hudson  Bay  Company,  "twenty 
shillings  per  week,  if  he  came  from  France  over  to  Britain  and 
be  true."  Here  the  brothers-in-law  were  separated,  after  thirty 
years  of  most  intimate  association.  Nothing  further  is  known 
of  Groseilliers,  and  it  seems  probable  that  he  died  not  long 
afterward  in  Canada. 

The  life  of  Radisson  after  this  second  desertion  from  France 
has  been  recently  traced  by  Prof.  George  Bryce,  of  Winnipeg; 
through  his  researches  in  the  archives  of  the  Hudson  Bay  Com- 
pany in  London.  Having  sailed  from  England  in  May,  1684, 
Radisson  traitorously  took  possession  of  the  chief  French  trading 
post  of  Hudson  bay,  on  the  Hayes  river,  compelling  his  nephew, 
the  son  of  Groseilliers,  to  surrender  the  post,  which  was  under 
his  command,  with  a  vast  quantity  (twenty  thousand)  of  valu- 
able peltries  that  had  been  collected  there.  These  furs  were 
sold  in  England  for  7,000  pounds.  Radisson  voyaged  later,  in 
1685,  and  also  in  1687  and  1688,  to  Hudson  bay  for  this  com- 
pany, and  he  received  a  pension  from  it,  affording  a  scanty 
means  of  living  for  himself  and  his  family,  until  the  beginning 
of  the  year  1710.  As  the  pension  then  ceased,  it  is  inferred 
that  he  died,  probably  in  London  or  its  vicinity,  before  the  next 
quarterly  date  for  payment,  his  age  being  seventy-four  years. 

PECULIARITIES    OF    RADISSON'S    WRITINGS. 

The  editor  states  in  his  introduction  to  Radisson's  narra- 
tives: "All  his  manuscripts  have  been  handed  down  in  perfect 
preservation.  They  are  written  out  in  a  clear  and  excellent 
handwriting,  showing  the  writer  to  have  been  a  person  of  good 
education." 

The  president  of  the  Prince  Society,  in  his  preface  of  the 
same  volume,  says:  "The  narratives  contained  in  it  are  the 
record  of  events  and  transactions  in  which  the  author  was  a 
principal  actor.  They  were  apparently  written  without  any  in- 
tention of  publication,  and  are  plainly  authentic  and  trust- 
worthy. *  *  *  The  author  was  a  native  of  France,  and  had 


132  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 

an  imperfect  knowledge  of  the  English  language.  The  journals, 
with  the  exception  of  the  last  in  the  volume,  are,  however,  writ- 
ten in  that  language,  and,  as  might  he  anticipated,  in  ortho- 
graphy, in  the  use  of  words,  and  in  the  structure  of  sentences, 
conform  to  no  known  standard  of  English  composition.  But 
the  meaning  is  in  all  cases  clearly  conveyed,  and,  in  justice  both 
to  the  author  and  reader,  they  have  been  printed  verbatim  et 
literatim,  as  in  the  original  manuscripts." 

By  extracts  given  further  on,  describing  the  two  expeditions 
to  Minnesota,  the  style  of  Radisson's  writing  will  be  well  shown. 
Many  parts  of  the  narration  where  we  should  wish  quite  com- 
plete statement  are  given  very  briefly  or  are  omitted  entirely. 
Other  parts,  on  the  contrary,  have  a  fullness  of  garrulous  de- 
tail which  brings  to  view  very  vividly  the  many  adventures, 
hardships  and  dangers  encountered  among  the  savages,  with 
frequent  descriptions  of  their  manner  of  life  in  the  wigwam, 
in  their  rude  agriculture,  in  the  hunt,  on  the  war  path,  and  in 
councils  of  public  deliberation.  The  details  are  everywhere  con- 
sistent with  the  now  well  known  characteristics  of  these  Indian 
tribes,  and  they  thus  bear  decisive  testimony  that  the  narrator 
had  actual  experience  by  living  long  among  them. 

Radisson  had  a  very  thorough  familiarity  with  homely,  apt 
and  forcible  expressions  of  our  English  language,  such  as  could 
only  be  acquired  by  living  with  English-speaking  people,  cer- 
tainly not  merely  from  school  studies  or  books.  It  is  probable, 
as  before  stated,  that  he  had  learned  this  language  before  going 
to  Canada;  but  later,  by  his  life  in  New  England  and  in  the 
service  of  Boston  merchants  during  the  years  from  1661  to 
1664,  he  had  doubtless  added  greatly  to  his  acquaintance  with 
the  vernacular. 

The  narratives  of  the  four  expeditions,  which  are  called  by 
Radisson  "voyages,"  appear  to  have  been  written  in  1665,  with 
a  slight  addition  three  years  later,  their  purpose  being  to  pro- 
mote the  interests  of  the  two  adventurers  when  first  seeking  al- 
liance with  the  English  for  establishing  trade  with  the  Hudson 
hay.  The  writer  took  especial  care  to  show  the  great  prospective 
ndvantages  of  opening  the  fur  trade  with  new  regions  at  the 


GROSEILLIERS   AND   RADISSON.  133 

north,   and  of  gaining  possession  by  colonies  in  the  vast   fertile 
country  of  Lake  Michigan  and  the  upper  Mississippi  region. 

That  the  routes  and  localities  of  the  farthest  western  ex- 
plorations by  Groseilliers  and  Radisson,  and  of  their  councils 
with  the  Indians  to  establish  the  fur  trade  in  the  area  of  Min- 
nesota, were  not  earlier  fully  studied  out  and  ascertained,  is 
doubtless  attributable  mainly  to  deficiencies  of  Radisson's  nar- 
ratives; but  also  must  in  part  be  ascribed  to  the  limitation  of 
their  publication,  in  an  edition  of  only  two  hundred  and  fifty 
copies,  of  which  only  two  are  in  Minnesota.  Only  three  or  four 
students  of  history  in  this  state  have  made  careful  examination 
of  this  book;  and  these  studies,  with  those  of  other  historians  in 
Wisconsin  and  elsewhere,  have  gradually  brought  me  to  the  re- 
sults stated  here.  The  present  chapter  is  based  on  my  more 
complete  memoir  of  this  subject  published  by  the  Minnesota 
Historical  Society  (in  its  Collections,  Volume  X,  Part  II,  1905, 
pages  449-594).  An  essential  clue  for  identification  of  the  lo- 
cality of  greatest  interest  in  the  second  of  these  expeditions  to 
Minnesota  was  supplied  by  the  late  Hon.  J.  V.  Brower,  who 
found  that  Knife  lake  and  river,  in  Kanabec  county,  were  so 
named  because  there  the  Sioux  of  the  Mille  Lacs  region  first 
obtained  iron  and  steel  knives  from  white  men,  thence  also  re- 
ceiving themselves  the  name  of  Isanti  or  Knife  Sioux,  by  which 
they  were  known  to  Du  Luth  and  Hennepin. 

AGREEMENT  AND   DISCREPANCY  WITH  OTHER 
RECORDS. 

The  two  western  expeditions  are  paralleled  by  the  Jesuit 
Relations,  which  were  yearly  reports  of  the  progress  of  mis- 
sionary work,  including  also  many  incidental  references  to  other 
Canadian  history.  Another  contemporary  record,  the  Journal 
of  the  Jesuits  for  the  year  1660,  contains  a  very  interesting 
detailed  statement  of  the  return  of  these  travelers  and  traders 
from  their  second  trip  west,  accompanied  by  three  hundred  In- 
dians, and  bringing  a  rich  freight  of  furs.  The  Relations  for 
1660  mention  two  Frenchmen  returning  at  this  time,  with 


134  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 

similar  details  of  their  expedition,  as  the  return  of  two  French- 
men was  also  noted  by  the  Relations  for  1656 ;  but  in  both  in- 
stances they  refrain  from  giving  the  names  of  these  daring  and 
successful  explorers.  In  the  Journal  we  are  informed  that 
Groseilliers  was  one  of  the  two  returning  from  the  second  of 
these  expeditions. 

Henry  Colin  Campbell,  of  Milwaukee,  Wis.,  who  has  very 
carefully  studied  the  chronology  of  this  subject,  writes:  "Tak- 
ing all  the  circumstancces  into  consideration,  it  would  not  be 
easy  to  find  three  distinct  accounts  of  one  expedition  into  a 
strange  country  that  tallied  more  closely  than  do  the  accounts 
of  that  voyage  to  Lake  Superior  which  we  find  in  the  Jesuit 
Relations,  the  Journal  of  the  Jesuits,  and  Radisson's  Journal. 
The  return  of  Radisson  and  Groseilliers  from  their  second  trip, 
the  one  to  Lake  Superior,  in  August,  1660,  is  thus  fully  proven." 

The  duration  of  the  first  expedition  west,  in  which  Radisson 
claims  to  have  traveled  far  southward,  to  a  latitude  where  "it 
never  snows  nor  freezes,  but  is  mighty  hot,"  he  asserts  to  have 
been  three  years;  but  the  Jesuit  Relations  s,tate  distinctly  that 
the  expedition  which  returned  in  1656  had  occupied  only  two 
years.  In  this  discrepancy  we  must  certainly  rely  on  the  Re- 
lations as  truthful,  for  reasons  to  be  presently  more  fully  ex- 
plained. When  the  fictitious  year,  as  it  may  be  called,  is  elim- 
inated from  this  expedition,  taking  away  the  pretended  journey 
to  the  shores  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  the  remaining  narration  of 
Radisson  for  the  two  years  actually  spent  in  the  region  of  Lake 
Michigan  and  on  Prairie  island  in  Minnesota  seems  entirely 
tmstworthy,  bearing  many  and  indubitable  evidences  of  its 
truth. 

Comparing  this  narration  with  the  Jesuit  Relations,  Camp- 
bell well  summarizes  the  general  agreement  as  follows:  "Our 
two  Frenchmen,  like  the  nameless  Frenchmen  of  1654-1656, 
visited  the  Pottawatamies  and  the  Maskoutens,  the  latter  in  the 
interior  of  Wisconsin.  Radisson  and  Groseilliers,  like  the  two 
nameless  Frenchmen,  were  delayed  in  returning  the  first  spring 
by  the  Indians.  Their  return,  likewise,  caused  great  joy  in 
the  colony,  and  salvos  of  artillery  were  also  fired  in  their  honor 


GROSEILLIERS   AND  RADISSON.  135 

from  the  battlements  of  Quebec.  We  have  already  observed 
that  the  whereabouts  of  Eadisson  and  Groseilliers  from  1654 
to  1656  can  be  accounted  for  in  no  other  way  than  by  making 
them  identical  with  the  two  nameless  Frenchmen;  and,  more- 
over, Eadisson  and  Groseilliers,  if  they  were  the  two  nameless 
Frenchmen,  would  have  had  a  year  in  which  to  rest,  after  their 
return,  as  Radisson  says  that  they  did/' 

CHRONOLOGY   OF   THE   FOUR   EXPEDITIONS. 

In  writing  of  the  western  expeditions,  which  most  interest 
us  because  they  extended  to  the  area  of  Minnesota,  Radisson 
seldom  exactly  noted  the  date  of  any  event  by  the  month  and 
never  by  the  number  of  the  year.  Much  confusion  has  arisen, 
therefore,  among  historians  in  determining  the  years  when  these 
expeditions  took  place. 

Some  authors,  as  Scull,  the  editor  of  the  Prince  Society's 
volume,  Dionne,  the  librarian  of  the  Legislature  of  Quebec, 
Suite,  in  his  elaborate  studies  of  this  subject,  Dr.  Edward  D. 
Neill,  R.  G.  Thwaites,  and  Prof.  George  Bryce,  have  held  that 
the  first  western  expedition  of  Groseilliers  and  Radisson  ter- 
minated in  1660,  being  the  second  of  the  two  mentioned  in  the 
Jesuit  Relations  of  1656  and  1660.  They  consequently  refer 
the  second  western  trip  narrated  by  Radisson  to  the  years  1661- 
63,  or  to  1662-64. 

Others,  including  Campbell,  before  quoted,  the  late  Alfred 
J.  Hill  and  Hon.  J.  V.  Brower  (in  Volume  VII  of  the  Minne- 
sota Historical  Society  Collections),  and  the  late  honored  and 
beloved  Captain  Russell  Blakeley,  vice  president  of  this  society 
(in  Volume  VIII  of  the  same  series),  with  most  ample  reasons 
consider  the  two  western  voyages  of  these  explorers  to  be  identi- 
cal with  those  reported  in  the  Relations,  treminating  respec- 
tively in  1656  and  1660.  This  view  is  so  clearly  set  forth  by 
Campbell  that  it  must  be  confidently  accepted;  indeed,  the  ac- 
curately known  records  in  these  narratives  and  other  contempor- 
aneous writings  prove  it  conclusively. 


136  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 

Radisson's  captivity  with  the  Iroquois,  called  his  first  voy- 
age, was,  as  we  have  seen,  in  1652  and  1653,  his  first  and  second 
years  after  coming  to  Canada.  Having  escaped  to  France  and 
thence  come  back  to  his  home  at  Three  Rivers  early  in  1654,  he 
set  out  in  the  summer  of  that  year  with  his  brother-in-law  on 
their  first  voyage  to  the  far  west,  from  which  they  returned  in 
1656. 

During  the  interval  following,  before  the  second  voyage 
west,  Radisson  went  to  the  Onondaga  settlement  in  the  central 
part  of  the  area  of  New  York  state,  and  this  expedition,  called 
by  him  "the  Second  Voyage  made  in  the  Upper  Country  of  the 
Iroquoits,"  occupied  nearly  a  year,  from  July,  1657,  to  March 
or  April,  1658.  It  is  placed  second  by  Radisson  in  his  series 
of  narrations;  and  he  esplicitly  says  that  the  earliest  western 
expedition  was  undertaken  afterward. 

He  may  have  considered  the  geographic  relationship  more 
important  than  that  of  time,  therefore  placing  the  two  Iroquois 
trips  together,  and  the  two  in  the  far  west  likewise  together,  but 
he  ought  not  to  have  said  definitely,  in  so  many  words,  that 
the  first  western  trip  followed  the  second  among  the  Iroquois. 
By  this  arrangement  of  his  writings,  with  the  accompanying 
misstatement,  Radisson  misled  Scull  and  others  in  respect  to 
their  chronologic  order.  It  is  to  be  remembered,  however,  in 
palliation  of  the  falsehood,  that  a  high  regard  for  continued  ver- 
acity in  historical  authorship,  especially  among  travelers  and  ex- 
plorers in  America,  was  less  common  then,  and  lack  of  it  more 
likely  to  pass  undetected  for  a  long  period,  than  at  the  present 
time. 

NARRATIVE   OF   THE   FIRST   WESTERN   EXPEDITION. 

The  title  or  caption  given  by  Radisson  at  the  beginning 
of  this  narrative  reads:  "Now  followeth  the  Auxoticiat  Voy- 
age into  the  Great  and  filthy  Lake  of  the  Hurrons,  Upper  Sea 
of  the  East,  and  Bay  of  the  North."  It  occupies  pages  134  to 
172  in  the  publication  by  the  Prince  Society.  No  title  is  given 
for  the  second  voyage  west,  which  ensues  in  pages  173  to  247; 


GEOSEILLIEBS   AND   EADISSOK  137 

and  we  must  extend  the  references  to  the  Upper  Sea  (Lake  Su- 
prior)  and  the  Bay  of  the  North  (Hudson  Bay)  to  apply  to 
that  later  western  expedition.  The  great  importance  of  the 
discovery  of  the  upper  Mississippi  river  was  neglected  in  the 
title,  doubtless  because  the  more  northern  region  of  Hudson 
bay,  easy  to  be  reached  by  English  ships,  promised  larger  and 
earlier  pecuniary  profits  in  commerce. 

Groseilliers  and  Eadisson,  voyaging  in  birch  canoes  with  a 
small  company  of  Hurons  and  Ottawas,  came  to  Lake  Huron 
by  the  usual  route  of  the  Ottawa  river,  and  Lake  Nipissing.  Their 
Indian  escort  then  divided,  and  a  part  went  with  the  French  tra- 
velers southward  around  Georgian  bay  and  Lake  Huron  to 
Bois  Blanc  island  and  the  strait  of  Mackinac.  The  first  autumn 
and  winter  were  spent  in  visiting  from  tribe  to  tribe  in  the  region 
of  Mackinac  and  Green  bay.  "I  liked  noe  country,"  says 
Eadisson,  "as  I  have  that  wherein  we  wintered;  ffor  whatever  a 
man  could  desire  was  to  be  had  in  great  plenty;  viz,  staggs, 
fishes  in  abundance,  all  sort  of  meat,  corne  enough."  He 
says  of  Lake  Huron: 

The  coast  of  this  lake  is  most  delightfull  to  the  minde.  The  lands 
smooth,  and  woods  of  all  sorts.  In  many  places  there  are  many  large 
open  fields  where  in,  I  believe,  wildmen  formerly  lived  before  the  des- 
truction of  the  many  nations  which  did  inhabit,  and  took  more  place 
then  600  leagues  about. 

Lake  Michigan,  with  its  surrounding  forests  and  prairies 
and  Indian  tribes,  appeared  even  more  fascinating  to  Eadisson's 
enraptured  and  prophetic  vision.  He  wrote  of  it  in  an  ecstasy: 

We  embarked  ourselves  on  the  delightfullest  lake  of  the  world. 
I  took  notice  of  their  Cottages  &  of  the  journeys  of  our  navigation,  for 
because  that  the  country  was  so  pleasant,  so  beautifull  &  fruitful! 
that  it  grieved  me  to  see  that  the  world  could  not  discover  such  in- 
ticing  countrys  to  live -in.  This  I  say  because  that  the  Europeans  fight 
for  a  rock  in  the  sea  against  one  another,  or  for  a  sterill  land  and 
horrid  country,  that  the  people  sent  heere  or  there  by  the  changement 
of  the  aire  ingenders  sicknesse  and  dies  thereof.  Contrarywise  those 
kingdoms  are  •  so  delicious  &  under  so  temperat  a  climat,  plentifull  of 
all  things,  the  earth  bringing  foorth  its  fruit  twice  a  yeare,  the  people 
live  long  &  lusty  &  wise  in  their  way.  What  conquest  would  that  bee 
att  litle  or  no  cost;  what  laborinth  of  pleasure  should  millions  of 
people  have,  instead  that  millions  complaine  of  misery  &  poverty! 


138  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 

So  carried  away  was  our  author  by  his  zeal  to  show  to 
England  the  excellence  of  this  fertile  and  vast  interior  of  our 
continent  that  he  yielded  to  the  temptation  to  describe  as  actually 
seen  by  himself  the  far  southward  continuation  of  the  same 
country,  beyond  the  limits  of  his  travels,  but  known  to  him 
by  accounts  of  the  roving  Indians.  To  give  time  for  this  preten- 
ded southern  exploration,  Radisson  here  interpolated  a  fictitious 
year. 

Attentively  perusing  the  narative,  I  am  impressed  with  the 
lack  of  details  of  journeys  and  experiences  during  the  time  be- 
tween the  first  and  second  winters  of  Radisson's  three  years.  He 
seems  to  have  fabricated  the  story  of  that  year,  drawing  his 
general  descriptions  of  the  southern  half  of  Lake  Michigan  and 
the  vast  region  beyond  from  what  he  could  learn  in  conversation 
with  the  red  men.  He  understood  the  Algonquian  languages, 
and  these  people  and  their  southern  neighbors  had  occasional  in- 
tercourse and  travel  from  tribe  to  tribe,  so  that  among  the  aboriginal 
ornaments  and  amulets  in  Minnesota  and  Manitoba  were  sea 
shells  from  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  The  implied  voyage  of  Groseil- 
liers  and  Radisson  far  down  the  Mississippi  may  therefore  be  re- 
jected. 

It  is  known  with  certainty  that  Radisson  returned  from 
France,  after  his  Iroquois  captivity,  in  the  spring  of  1654;  and 
it  seems  also  certain  that  he  and  Groseilliers  returned  to  Que- 
bec from  their  first  western  expedition  in  1656.  Therefore  it 
appears  clearly  impossible  that  this  expedition  could  have  occu- 
pied a  longer  time  than  the  two  years  which  the  Jesuit  Rela- 
tions accredit  to  it.  The  meagerness,  vagueness,  and  miscon- 
ceptions of  the  narration  for  the  fictitious  year  will  appear  by  the 
following  quotations: 

We  meet  with  several!  nations,  all  sedentary,  amazed  to  see  us, 
&  weare  very  civil.  The  further  we  sejourned  the  delightfuller  the 
land  was  to  us.  I  can  say  that  [in]  my  lifetime  I  never  saw  a  more 
incomparable  country,  for  all  I  have  ben  in  Italy;  yett  Italy  comes 
short  of  it,  as  I  think,  when  it  was  inhabited,  &  now  forsaken  of  the 
wildmen.  Being  about  the  great  sea  [Lake  Michigan  or  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico?],  we  conversed  with  people  that  dwelleth  about  the  salt  water, 
who  tould  us  that  they  saw  some  great  white  thing  sometimes  uppon 


GROSEILLIERS   AND   KADISSOK  139 

the  water,  &  came  towards  the  shore,  &  men  in  the  top  of  it,  and 
made  a  noise  like  a  company  of  swans;  which  made  me  believe  that 
they  weare  mistaken,  for  I  could  not  imagine  what  it  could  be,  except 
the  Spaniard;  and  the  reason  is  that  we  found  a  barill  broken  as  they 
use  in  Spaine. 

Evidently  Eadisson  intended  here,  in  saying  that  they 
found  a  Spanish  barrel,  to  convey  the  impression  that  they 
came  to  the  Gulf  Coast,  as  also  he  almost  surely  meant  by  "the 
great  sea/'  It  is  very  significant,  however,  that  he  does  not 
here  allude  to  the  great  river  Mississippi,  on  which  route  they 
would  necessarily  have  come  to  that  coast  and  returned  from  it 
by  several  weeks  of  laborious  canoeing.  His  narration  is 
thus  like  the  playbill  announcing  "the  tragedy  of  Hamlet,  the 
character  of  the  Prince  of  Denmark  being  left  out." 

Radisson  continues  in  the  same  paragraph  to  describe  the 
people  there,  with  similar  erroneous  comprehension,  based  on 
hearsay  that  he  partly  misconstrued,  as  follows: 

Those  people  have  their  haires  long.  They  reap  twice  a  yeare; 
they  are  called  Tatarga,  that  is  to  say,  buff.  They  warre  against  Na- 
doneceronons  [the  Sioux],  and  warre  also  against  the  Christines  [the 
Crees].  These  2  doe  no  great  harme  to  one  another,  because  the  lake 
is  between  both.  They  are  generally  stout  men,  that  they  are  able 
to  defend  themselves.  They  come  but  once  a  year  to  fight.  If  the 
season  of  the  yeare  had  permitted  us  to  stay,  for  we  intended  to  goe 
backe  the  yeare  following,  we  had  indeavoured  to  make  peace  between 
them.  We  had  not  as  yett  seene  the  nation  Nadoneceronons.  We  had 
hurrons  with  us.  Wee  persuaded  them  to  come  along  to  see  their 
owne  nation  that  fled  there,  but  they  would  not  by  any  means.  We 
thought  to  gett  some  castors  [beavers'  skins]  there  to  bring  downe 
to  the  ffrench,  seeing  [it]  att  last  impossible  to  us  to  make  such  a 
circuit  in  a  twelve  month's  time.  We  weare  every  where  much  made 
of;  neither  wanted  victualls,  for  all  the  different  nations  that  we  mett 
conducted  us  &  furnished  us  with  all  necessaries.  Tending  to  those 
people,  went  towards  the  South  &  came  back  by  the  north. 

The  Summer  passed  away  with  admiration  by  the  diversity  of 
the  nations  that  we  saw,  as  for  the  beauty  of  the  shore  of  that  sweet 
sea  [i.  e.,  great  lake  of  fresh  water].  Heere  we  saw  fishes  of  divers, 
some  like  the  sturgeons  &  have  a  kind  of  slice  att  the  end  of  their 
nose  some  3  fingers  broad  in  the  end  and  2  onely  neere  the  nose,  and 
some  8  thumbs  long,  all  marbled  of  a  blakish  collor  [the  shovel-nosed 
sturgeon].  There  are  birds  whose  bills  are  two  and  20  thumbs  long. 
That  bird  [the  pelican]  swallows  a  whole  salmon,  keeps  it  a  long  time 


140  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 

in  his  bill.  We  saw  also  shee-goats  very  bigg.  There  is  an  animal 
somewhat  lesse  then  a  cow  whose  meat  is  exceeding  good.  There  is 
no  want  of  Staggs  nor  Buffes.  There  are  so  many  Tourkeys  that  the 
boys  throws  stoanes  att  them  for  their  recreation.  *  *  *  Most  of 
the  shores  of  the  lake  is  nothing  but  sand.  There  are  mountains  [sand 
dunes]  to  be  scene  farre  in  the  land.  There  comes  not  so  many  rivers 
from  [into]  that  lake  as  from  others;  these  that  flow  from  it  are 
deeper  and  broader,  the  trees  are  very  bigg,  but  not  so  thick.  There 
is  a  great  distance  from  one  another,  &  a  quantitie  of  all  sorts  of 
fruits,  but  small.  The  vines  grows  all  by  the  river  side;  the  lemons 
are  not  so  bigg  as  ours,  and  sowrer.  The  grape  is  very  bigg,  greene, 
is  scene  there  att  all  times.  It  never  snows  nor  freezes  there,  but 
mighty  hot;  yett  for  all  that  the  country  is  not  so  unwholsom,  ffor 
we  seldom  have  seene  infirmed  people. 

It  seems  probable  that  a  part  of  Radisson's  information 
of  the  fauna,  notably  his  reference  to  "shee-goats  very  bigg,"  be- 
longs to  the  Rocky  mountains,  rather  than  the  country  of  Lake 
Michigan  and  the  Mississippi,  which  he  is  endeavoring  to  des- 
cribe. His  idea  that  the  tribes  of  the  far  south,  bordering 
on  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  habitually  sent  war  parties  each' 
year  into  the  country  of  the  Sioux  and  the  Crees,  the  latter 
living,  then  as  now,  north  and  northwest  of  Lake  Superior,  pre- 
sents most  decisive  internal  evidence  that  the  narration  of  this 
year  was  gathered  only  from  hearsay,  for  which,  as  we  shall 
see,  Radisson  had  splendid  opportunity  in  his  very  long  hunt- 
ing excursion  with  the  savages  during  the  summer  of  1655,  start- 
ing from  and  returning  to  Prairie  island. 

When  we  come  to  Radisson's  account  of  that  next  year,  fol- 
lowing his  apparent  fiction  so  vaguely  and  blunderingly  told,  he 
resumes  his  accustomed  definiteness  of  details,  telling  us  that 
in  the  early  spring,  before  the  snow  and  ice  were  gone,  which  for- 
bade the  use  of  canoes,  these  Frenchmen,  with  about  a  hundred  and 
fifty  men  and  women  of  the  native  tribes,  traveled  almost  fifty 
leagues  on  snowshoes,  coming  to  a  riverside  where  they  spent 
three  weeks  in  making  boats.  This  journey  was,  if  I  rightly  iden- 
tify it,  from  the  vicinity  of  Green  bay,  in  eastern  Wisconsin, 
across  that  state  to  the  Mississippi,  reaching  this  river  near  the 
southeast  corner  of  Minnesota  or  somewhat  farther  south,  perhaps 
coming  by  a  route  not  far  from  the  canoe  route  of  the  Fox 


GEOSEILLIEES   AXD   EADISSOK  141 

and  Wisconsin  rivers.  Thence  they  voyaged  eight  days  up  the 
river  on  which  their  boats  had  been  made,  to  villages  of  two 
tribes,  probably  in  the  vicinity  of  Winona,  where  they  obtained 
meal  and  corn,  which  supplied  this  large  company  until  they 
"came  to  the  first  landing  isle." 

THE  YEAE  1655-56  AT  PEAIEIE  ISLAND. 

The  description  indicates  that  the  voyageurs  passed  along 
Lake  Pepin  and  upward  to  the  large  Isle  Pelee  (or  Bald  island), 
now  called  Prairie  island,  on  the  Minnesota  side  of  the  main 
river,  channel  a  few  miles  above  Eed  Wing.  On  this  island, 
which  derived  its  names,  both  in  French  and  English,  from  its 
being  mostly  a  prairie,  a  large  number  of  Hurons  and  Ottawas, 
fleeing  from  their  enemies,  the  Iroquois,  had  recently  taken  re- 
fuge, and  had  begun  the  cultivation  of  corn.  Their  harvest 
the  preceding  year,  on  newly  worked  land,  was  small;  but  much 
corn  would  be  needed  for  food  during  the  long  journey  thence 
to  Quebec  with  beaver  skins,  which  canoe  voyage,  requiring  a 
month  or  more,  Groseilliers  and  Eadisson  wished  to  begin  soon 
after  their  arrival  at  the  isalnd.  They  were  obliged  to  remain 
till  the  next  year,  and  Groseilliers  spent  the  summer  on  Prairie 
island  and  in  its  vicinity,  one  of  his  chief  objects  being  to 
provide  a  large  supply  of  corn  for  the  return  journey.  Mean- 
while Eadisson  went  with  hunting  parties,  and  traveled  "four 
months  *  *  *  without  doing  anything  but  go  from  river 
tc  river/'  He  was  enamored  of  the  beauty  and  fertility  of  the 
country,  and  was  astonished  at  its  herds  of  buffaloes  and  an- 
telopes, flocks  of  pelicans,  and  the  shovel-nosed  sturgeon,  all 
of  which  he  particularly  described.  Such  was  the  first  year, 
1655,  of  observation  and  exploration  by  white  men  in  Minnesota, 
and  their  earliest  navigation  of  the  upper  part  of  the  Missis- 
sippi river.  Accompanied  by  several  hundred  Hurons  and  other 
Algonquins,  and  carrying  a  most  welcome  freight  of  furs, 
Groseilliers  and  Eadisson  returned  to  Montreal  and  Quebec  in 
August,  1656.  Their  stay  at  Prairie  island  covered  the  period 
from  April  or  May,  1655,  to  June,  1656,  about  fourteen  months. 


142  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 

My  identification,  as  thus  stated,  of  Radisson's  "first  landing 
isle,"  according  with  a  suggestion  of  Campbell,  differs  widely 
from  the  view  taken  by  the  late  Captain  Blakeley  in  his  paper 
presented  several  years  ago  to  the  Minnesota  Historical  Society, 
published  in  Volume  VIII  of  its  Collections.  He  thought  that 
island  to  be  probably  in  Lake  Saganaga,  on  the  northern  boun- 
dary of  Minnesota.  Therefore  it  becomes  needful  to  give  here 
quite  explicitly  the  chief  reasons  for  my  assertion  in  favor  of 
Prairie  island.  These  may  be  received  as  conclusive,  while  yet 
indulging  much  leniency  toward  other  views,  because  even  the 
Indian  geographic  names,  and  also  the  direction  of  journeys,  as 
northward,  or  southward,  are  generally  wanting  in  the  crude 
account  of  these  earliest  explorations  in  a  previously  unknown 
region. 

First,  the  geographic  features  and  distances  of  the  route 
from  Green  bay  or  Lake  Winnebago  to  the  Mississippi,  and  up 
this  river  to  Prairie  island,  seem  to  me  harmonious  with  Radis- 
son's narration;  but,  on  the  contrary,  the  route  by  Lake  Super- 
ior and  northward  to  Saganaga  lake  differs  greatly  from  what 
iv.  narrated  of  the  snowshoe  and  canoe  journeys. 

Second,  many  of  the  Hurons  and  Ottawas,  escaping  from 
their  foes,  the  fierce  Iroquois,  are  known,  by  other  and  con- 
temporaneous historical  testimony,  to  have  fled  to  the  Mis- 
sissippi and  settled  on  Prairie  island  about  this  time;  and  the 
narration  shows  that  the  Indians  who  are  said  to  have  come 
newly  there  were  Huron  refugees.  These  Indians  never  pene- 
trated to  the  far  northern  and  cold  country  beyond  Lake  Super- 
ior. 

Third,  the  cool  climate  and  predominantly  rocky  land  of 
our  northern  boundary  from  Lake  Superior  to  the  mouth  of 
Rainy  lake,  with  the  altitude  of  Saganaga  lake,  1,434  feet  above 
the  sea,  and  the  small  size  and  very  rocky  surface  of  its  many 
islands,  make  corn-raising  there,  on  a  large  scale,  quite  im- 
possible; whereas  the  extensive  Prairie  island,  670  feet  to  735 
feet  above  the  sea,  and  situated  three  and  a  half  degrees  far- 
ther south,  with  an  easily  cultivated  and  very  productive  soil, 
is  by  nature  most  admirably  adapted  for  the  primitive  agricul- 


GROSEILLIERS   AND   RADISSON.  143 

ture  of  the  aborigines  and  for  their  most  valuable  crop,  Indian 
corn. 

Fourth,  Radisson  distinctly  says  that  in  starting  toward 
the  great  river  and  its  "first  landing  isle/'  they  bade  farewell 
to  the  Indians  of  the  Sault  Ste.  Marie  and  of  the  North. 

Fifth,  he  also  states  that  in  the  region  of  that  island  beav- 
ers were  not  so  plentiful  as  "in  the  north  part/'  showing  clearly 
that  they  were  then  farther  south  than  during  the  preceding 
winter,  which  they  had  spent  about  the  northern  end  of  Lake 
Michigan. 

Sixth,  the  journey  of  return  from  that  island  was  first  to 
the  south  and  then  to  the  north.  This  description  applies  to 
the  canoe  voyage  from  Prairie  island  southward  down  the  Mis- 
sissippi, and  then  northward  up  the  Wisconsin  river  and  down 
the  Fox  river  to  Green  bay.  It  could  not  describe  any  route  of 
return  from  Lake  Saganaga. 

No  other  locality  on  or  near  the  northern  border  of  Min- 
nesota can  satisfy  the  requirements  of  the  narration;  nor  can 
any  other  island  in  the  Mississippi,  or  in  any  river  of  this 
region,  meet  these  requirements  so  satisfactorily  as  Prairie  is- 
land, which  is  the  largest  in  all  the  course  of  the  Mississippi. 
The  identification  seems  to  me  to  stand  in  the  clearest  light, 
without  a  shadow  of  reason  for  distrust. 

Many  islands  had  been  passed  in  the  long  canoe  journey  up 
1he  Mississippi,  but  the  "first  landing  isle"  was  the  first  having 
sufficient  height  and  extent  to  be  adapted  for  permanent  settle- 
ment by  the  Indians  and  later  by  white  men.  This  name  seems 
to  imply  a 'second  isle  farther  up  the  river,  rising  likewise  above 
its  highest  flood  stage  and  therefore  permanently  habitable,  which 
conditions  mark  Gray  Cloud  island,  about  four  miles  long  and 
one  to  two  miles  wide,  situated  about  ten  miles  above  Prairie 
island  and  five  miles  above  Hastings.  Both  these  islands  were 
inhabited  long  before  the  coming  of  white  immigration,  and 
even  at  the  time  of  this  first  expedition  of  Groseilliers  and 
Radisson  they  were  probably  already  known  by  the  Indians  as 
the  first  and  second  'landing  isles."  Each  shows  traces  of  very 
nncient  occupancy,  made  known  by  Hon.  J.  V.  Brower's  arch- 


144  MINNESOTA  IN  THEEE  CENTURIES. 

aeologic  examination  and  mapping  of  their  aboriginal  mounds, 
village  sites,  and  places  of  canoe  landings. 

Isle  Pelee,  as  Prairie  island  was  called  by  the  French,  is 
ten  and  a  half  miles  long,  and  has  an  average  width  of  about 
two  miles,  with  a  maximum  of  two  and  three-fourths  miles. 
Its  area  is  about  twenty  square  miles,  and  its  highest  part  is  40 
to  65  feet  above  the  low  water  stage  of  the  inclosing  rivers. 
This  large  island  lies  between  the  Mississippi  and  a  western  tri- 
butary, the  Vermillion  river,  which  flow  respectively  along  its 
northeast  and  southwest  sides,  each  measuring  more  than  ten 
miles.  At  its  northwest  or  upstream  end,  the  island  is  bounded 
by  Truedell  slough,  which  supplies,  even  at  the  lowest  stage  of 
water,  a  connection  between  the  Mississippi  and  the  Yermillion, 
usually  carrying  a  current  from  the  former  to  the  latter;  but 
during  floods  in  the  smaller  river,  when  it  is  the  higher,  the 
current  in  the  slough  is  reversed.  In  the  highest  floods  from 
exceptional  rains  or  from  the  snow-melting  in  spring,  the  Mis- 
sissippi rises  16  to  18  feet  above  its  lowest  stage;  and  then  it 
sends  off  a  wide  part  of  its  waters  along  the  course  of  the  Ver- 
million, to  reunite  with  the  broader  flood  of  the  main  river  south 
of  the  island,  which  is  reduced  at  such  times  to  a  length  of 
about  seven  miles  and  a  maximum  width  of  only  about  one  mile. 

This  island  possesses  several  beautiful  lakes,  from  a  half 
mile  to  two  miles  long;  and  the  largest,  Sturgeon  lake,  has  a 
width  of  a  half  mile.  Timber  grows  along  most  parts  of  th'e 
shores  of  the  lakes,  and  on  the  banks  of  both  the  Mississippi  and 
Vermillion  rivers,  in  some  places  reaching  far  from  the  shores; 
but  about  four-fifths  of  the  island  is  prairie,  as  it  Was  also  un- 
doubtedly when  Groseilliers  and  Radisson  came  there.  Excepting 
an  extensive  low  and  marshy  tract  on  the  northwestern  part  of  the 
island,  all  its  prairie  is  suitable  for  cultivation  and  is  now  oc- 
cupied and  used  for  farming,  including  not  less  than  ten  or 
twelve  square  miles,  or  about  7,000  acres. 

As  I  traversed  this  historic  island  in  early  May  of  the 
year  1901,  at  nearly  the  exact  season  of  the  arrival  of  these 
Frenchmen  two  and  a  half  centuries  ago,  my  thoughts  went 
back  to  that  springtime,  and  I  endeavored  to  picture  their  com- 


GROSEILLIERS   AND   RADISSON.  145 

ing  with  a  hundred  and  fifty  Indians  to  join  those  who  a  year 
or  two  before  had  come  there,  attracted  by  the  fitness  of  the 
land  for  corn-raising.  The  island  was  then  a  great  prairie  as 
now,  and  its  sedentary  Indian  population  may  have  usually  ex- 
ceeded its  present  number  of  white  inhabitants,  perhaps  a  hund- 
red and  fifty,  with  their  twenty-five  or  thirty  farmhouses,  two 
schoolhouses,  and  a  church.  Instead  of  the  neighboring  rail- 
ways and  villages  of  civilization,  all  the  Mississippi  basin  from 
Lake  Itasca  to  the  Gulf  was  uninhabited  by  white  men.  But 
it  had  many  Indian  villages,  many  cultivated  fields  yielding 
abundantly,  and  unlimited  supplies  of  fish  and  game.  The  na- 
tive tribes  had  not  yet  obtained  the  firearms  before  which  the 
buffaloes,  elk  and  deer,  and  most  of  the  wild  fowl,  have  fallen 
and  vanished  away.  Their  traffic  with  Europeans  was  begun 
by  these  two  daring  explorers  and  traders. 

Groseilliers  at  this  date  was  thirty-four  years  old,  and  was 
well  experienced  in  the  hazardous  life  of  a  pioneer  Indian  trader, 
prudent,  persevering,  and  successful.  His  comrade  was  scarcely 
twenty  years  old,  full  of  courage,  resourceful,  fond  of  wild  ad- 
venture, and  eager  to  see  new  regions.  If  we  compare  their  en- 
terprise to  a  boat  or  ship,  Groseilliers  was  like  the  ballast  to 
keep  the  craft  right  side  up,  while  Radisson  was  like  the  sail 
to  give  speed  and  distance. 

It  will  be  profitable  to  all  Minnesota  readers,  that  the  part 
of  Radisson's  narration  giving  the  journey  to  Prairie  island  and 
the  events  of  their  stay  shall  be  here  fully  transcribed,  as  fol- 
lows: 

*  *  *  Att  last  we  declared  our  mind  first  to  those  of  the  Sault, 
encouraging  those  of  the  North,  that  we  are  their  brethren,  &  that  we 
would  come  back  and  force  their  enemy  to  peace  or  that  we  would 
help  against  them.  We  made  guifts  one  to  another,  and  thwarted  a 
land  of  allmost  50  leagues  before  the  snow  was  melted.  In  the  morn- 
ing it  was  a  pleasur  to  walke,  for  we  could  goe  without  racketts.  The 
snow  was  hard  enough,  because  it  freezed  every  night.  When  the  sun 
began  to  shine  we  payed  for  the  time  past.  The  snow  sticks  so  to  our 
racketts  that  I  believe  our  shoes  weighed  30  pounds,  which  was  a 
paine,  having  a  burden  uppon  our  backs  besides. 

We  arrived,  some  150  of  us,  men  &  women,  to  a  river  side,  where 
we  stayed  3  weeks  making  boats.  Here  we  wanted  not  fish.  During 

I.-8 


146  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 

that  time  we  made  feasts  att  a  high  rate.  So  we  refreshed  ourselves 
from  our  labours.  In  that  time  we  tooke  notice  that  the  budds  of 
trees  began  to  spring,  which  made  us  to  make  more  hast  &  be  gone. 
We  went  up  the  river  8  days  till  we  came  to  a  nation  called  Pon- 
tonatenick  &  Matonenock;  that  is,  the  scrattchers.  There  we  got  some 
Indian  meale  &  corne  from  those  2  nations,  which  lasted  us  till  we 
came  to  the  first  landing  Isle.  There  we  weare  well  received  againe. 
We  made  guifts  to  the  Elders  to  encourage  the  yong  people  to  bring 
us  down  to  the  ffrench.  But  mightily  mistaken;  ffor  they  would  re- 
ply, "Should  you  bring  us  to  be  killed?  The  Iroquoits  are  every  where 
about  the  river  &  undoubtedly  will  destroy  us  if  we  goe  downe,  & 
afterwards  our  wives  &  those  that  stayed  behinde.  Be  wise,  brethren, 
&  offer  not  to  goe  downe  this  yeare  to  the  ffrench.  Lett  us  keepe  our 
lives."  We  made  many  private  suits,  but  all  in  vaine.  That  vexed 
U8  most  that  we  had  given  away  most  of  our  merchandises  &  swapped 
a  great  deale  for  Castors  [beavers].  Moreover  they  made  no  great 
harvest,  being  but  newly  there.  Beside,  they  weare  no  great  hunts- 
men. Our  journey  was  broaken  till  the  next  yeare,  &  must  per  force. 
That  summer  I  went  a  hunting,  &  my  brother  stayed  where  he 
was  welcome  &  putt  up  a  great  deale  of  Indian  corne  that  was  given 
him.  He  intended  to  furnish  the  wildmen  that  weare  to  goe  downe 
to  the  ffrench  if  they  had  not  enough.  The  wildmen  did  not  perceive 
this;  ffor  if  they  wanted  any,  we  could  hardly  kept  it  for  our  use. 
The  winter  passes  away  in  good  correspondence  one  with  another,  & 
sent  ambassadors  to  the  nations  that  uses  to  goe  downe  to  the  ffrench, 
which  rejoiced  them  the  more  &  made  us  passe  that  yeare  with  a 
greater  pleasur,  saving  that  my  brother  fell  into  the  falling  sicknesse, 
&  many  weare  sorry  for  it.  That  proceeded  onely  of  a  long  stay  in 
a  newly  discovered  country,  &  the  idlenesse  contributs  much  to  it. 
There  is  nothing  comparable  to  exercise.  It  is  the  onely  remedy  of 
such  diseases.  After  he  languished  awhile  God  gave  him  his  health 
againe. 

PUBLIC   COUNCIL  IN   THE  EARLY   SUMMER   OF   1656. 

During  the  next  spring  and  beginning  of  summer,  Gros- 
eilliers  and  Radisson  made  all  preparations  for  the  long  journey 
of  their  return  to  Lower  .Canada.  Many  of  the  Indians  must 
necessarily  accompany  them,  and  their  canoes  will  be  well  laden 
with  valuable  furs,  mostly  of  the  beaver  or  castor.  But  the 
Hurons  and  other  Indians  who  must  be  the  Frenchmen's  escort 
and  retinue  are  still  faint-hearted,  dreading  ambuscade  and  at- 
tack on  their  way  by  the  fierce  Iroquois  who  had  BO  recently 


GEOSEILLIEBS   AND   EADISSOK  147 

devastated  all  the  Huron  country.  The  earnest  arguments  of 
Groseilliers  seem  insufficient,  until  Badisson  by  a  bold  assertion 
that  he  will  start  alone,  at  the  same  time  suiting  the  action 
to  the  word,  turns  the  tide  of  the  council  to  approve  and  au- 
thorize the  dangerous  journey.  Eadisson  narrates  this  in  pic- 
turesquely graphic  and  dramatic  style,  bringing  this  great  council 
very  clearly  before  us,  as  follows: 

The  desire  that  every  one  had  to  goe  down  to  the  ffrench  made 
them  earnestly  looke  out  for  castors.  They  have  not  so  many  there 
as  in  the  north  part,  so  in  the  beginning  of  spring  many  came  to  our 
Isle.  There  weare  no  lesse,  I  believe,  then  500  men  that  weare  willing 
to  venter  themselves.  The  corne  that  my  brother  kept  did  us  a  world 
of  service.  The  wildmen  brought  a  quantity  of  flesh  salted  in  a 
vesell.  When  we  weare  ready  to  depart,  heere  comes  strang  news  of 
the  defeat  of  the  hurrons,  which  news,  I  thought,  would  putt  off  the 
voyage.  There  was  a  councell  held,  &  most  of  them  weare  against 
the  goeing  downe  to  the  ffrench,  saying  that  the  Iroquoits  weare  to 
barre  this  yeare,  &  the  best  way  was  to  stay  till  the  following  yeare. 
And  now  the  enemy,  seeing  himselfe  frustrated  of  his  expectation,  would 
not  stay  longer,  thinking  thereby  that  we  weare  resolved  nevermore 
to  go  downe,  and  that  next  yeare  there  should  be  a  bigger  company, 
&  better  able  to  oppose  an  ennemy.  My  brother  and  I,  seeing  our- 
selves all  out  of  hopes  of  our  voyage,  without  our  corne,  which  was 
allready  bestowed,  &  without  any  merchandise,  or  scarce  having  one 
knife  betwixt  us  both,  so  we  weare  in  a  great  apprehension  least 
that  the  hurrons  should,  as  they  have  done  often,  when  the  ffathers 
weare  in  their  country,  kill  a  frenchman. 

Seeing  the  equipage  ready  &  many  .more  that  thought  long  to  de- 
part thence  for  marchandise,  we  uppon  this  resolved  to  call  a  publique 
councell  in  the  place;  which  the  Elders  hearing,  came  and  advised  us 
not  to  undertake  it,  giving  many  faire  words,  saying,  "Brethren,  why 
are  you  such  ennemys  to  yourselves  to  putt  yourselves  in  the  hands  of 
those  that  wait  for  you?  They  will  destroy  you  and  carry  you  away 
captives.  Will  you  have  your  brethren  destroyed  that  loves  you,  being 
slained?  Who  then  will  come  up  and  baptize  our  children?  Stay  till 
the  next  yeare,  &  then  you  are  like  to  have  the  number  of  600  men 
in  company  with  you.  Then  you  may  freely  goe  without  intermission. 
Yee  shall  take  the  church  along  with  you,  &  the  ffathers  &  mothers 
will  send  their  children  to  be  taught  in  the  way  of  truth  of  the 
Lord."  Our  answer  was  that  we  would  speake  in  publique,  which 
granted,  the  day  appointed  is  come.  There  gathered  above  800  men  to 
see  who  should  have  the  glorie  in  a  round.  They  satt  downe  on  the 
ground.  We  desired  silence.  The  elders  being  in  the  midle  &  we  in 


148  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 

their  midle,  my  brother  began  to  speake.  "Who  am  I?  Am  I  a  foe 
or  a  friend?  If  I  am  a  foe,  why  did  you  suffer  me  to  live  so  long 
among  you?  If  I  am  a  friend,  &  if  you  take  so  to  be,  hearken  to  what 
I  shall  say.  You  know,  my  uncles  &  Brethren,  that  I  hazarded  my 
life  goeing  up  with  you;  if  I  have  no  courage,  why  did  you  not  tell 
me  att  my  first  coming  here?  &  if  you  have  more  witt  then  we,  why 
did  you  not  use  it  by  preserving  your  knives,  your  hattchetts,  &  your 
gunns,  that  you  had  from  the  ffrench?  You  will  see  if  the  ennemy  will 
sett  upon  you  that  you  will  be  attraped  like  castors  in  a  trape;  how 
will  you  defend  yourselves  like  men  that  is  not  courageous  to  lett 
yourselves  be  catched  like  beasts?  How  will  you  defend  villages?  with 
castors'  skins?  how  will  you  defend  your  wives  &  children  from  the 
ennemy's  hands?" 

Then  my  brother  made  me  stand  up,  saying,  "Shew  them  the  way 
to  make  warrs  if  they  are  able  to  uphold  it."  I  tooke  a  gowne  of 
castors'  skins  that  one  of  them  had  uppon  his  shoulder  &  did  beat  him 
with  it.  I  asked  the  others  if  I  was  a  souldier.  "Those  are  the  armes 
that  kill,  &  not  your  robes.  What  will  your  ennemy  say  when  you 
perish  without  defending  yourselves?  Doe  not  you  know  the  ffrench 
way?  We  are  used  to  fight  with  armes  &  not  with  robes.  You  say 
that  the  Iroquoits  waits  for  you  because  some  of  your  men  weare 
killed.  It  is  onely  to  make  you  stay  untill  you  are  quite  out  of  stocke, 
that  they  dispatch  you  with  ease.  Doe  you  think  that  the  ffrench  will 
come  up  here  when  the  greatest  part  of  you  is  slained  by  your  owne 
fault?  You  know  that  they  cannot  come  up  without  you.  Shall  they 
come  to  baptize  your  dead?  Shall  your  children  learne  to  be  slaves 
among  the  Iroquoits  for  their  ffathers'  cowardnesse?  You  call  me  Iro- 
quoit.  Have  not  you  seene  me  disposing  my  life  with  you?  Who  has 
given  you  your  life  if  not  the  ffrench?  Now  you  will  not  venter  be- 
cause many  of  your  confederates  are  come  to  visit  you  &  venter 
their  lives  with  you.  If  you  will  deceave  them  you  must  not  think 
that  they  will  come  an  other  time  for  shy  words  nor  desire.  You  have 
spoaken  of  il  first,  doe  what  you  will.  For  myne  owne  part,  I  will 
venter  choosing  to  die  like  a  man  then  live  like  a  beggar.  Having  not 
wherewithall  to  defend  myselfe,  farewell;  I  have  my  sack  of  corne 
ready.  Take  all  my  castors.  I  shall  live  without  you."  &  then  de- 
parted that  company. 

They  weare  amazed  of  our  proceeding;  they  stayed  long  before 
they  spoake  one  to  another.  Att  last  sent  us  some  considerable  per- 
sons who  bid  us  cheare  up.  "We  see  that  you  are  in  the  right;  the 
voyage  is  not  broaken.  The  yong  people  tooke  very  ill  that  you  have 
beaten  them  with  the  skin.  All  avowed  to  die  like  men  &  under- 
take the  journey.  You  shall  heare  what  the  councell  will  ordaine  the 
morrow.  They  are  to  meet  privatly  &  you  shall  be  called  to  it. 
Cheare  up  &  speake  as  you  have  done;  that  is  my  councell  to  you. 


GKOSEILLIEKS   AND  EADISSON".  149 

For  this  you  will  remember  me  when  you  will  see  me  in  your  country; 
ffor  I  will  venter  myselfe  with  you."  Now  we  are  more  satisfied  then 
the  day  before.  We  weare  to  use  all  rhetorique  to  persuade  them 
to  goe  down,  ffor  we  saw  the  country  languish  very  much,  ffor  they 
could  not  subsist,  &  moreover  they  weare  afraid  of  us.  The  councell 
is  called,  but  we  had  no  need  to  make  a  speech,  finding  them  disposed 
to  make  the  voyage  &  to  submitt.  "Yee  women  gett  your  husbands' 
bundles  ready.  They  goe  to  gett  wherewithall  to  defend  themselves  & 
you  alive." 

What  a  scene  was  that  great  public  council  for  a  poet  or 
painter,  to  depict  Groseilliers  and  Badisson  pleading  before  eight 
hundred  Indians!  It  is  a  day  in  the  middle  or  later  part  of 
June.  On  each  side,  some  two  miles  away,  rise  the  wooded 
bluffs  that  inclose  the  valley  and  its  islands.  In  a  beautiful 
prairie  area  the  motley  crowd  of  savages  are  sitting  or  lying  on 
the  ground.  At  the  center  of  the  assemblage  these  two  cour- 
ageous Frenchmen  are  striving  to  persuade  their  dusky  au- 
ditors to  set  out  on  the  first  commercial  venture  connecting 
this  region  with  civilzation. 

THE  EETUEN  TO  QUEBEC. 

As  Groseilliers  and  Eadisson  now  leave  the  area  of  Min- 
nesota, we  will  give  only  a  short  account  of  their  further  for- 
tunes until  they  again  arrive  in  our  northwestern  country.  The 
following  narrative  of  Eadisson  is  very  brief  for  the  first  two- 
thirds  of  the  journey,  until  they  have  passed  beyond  Lake 
Nipissing. 

Our  equipage  was  ready  in  6  dayes.  We  embarked  ourselves.  We 
weare  in  number  about  500,  all  stout  men.  We  had  with  us  a  great 
store  of  castors'  skins.  We  came  to  the  South.  We  now  goe  back  to 
the  north,  because  to  overtake  a  band  of  men  that  went  before  to 
give  notice  to  others.  We  passed  the  lake  without  dangers.  We  wanted 
nothing,  having  good  store  of  corne  &  netts  to  catch  fish,  which  is 
plentyfull  in  the  rivers.  We  came  to  a  place  where  8  Iroquoits  win- 
tered. That  was  the  company  that  made  a  slaughter  before  our  de- 
parture from  home.  Our  men  repented  now  they  did  not  goe  sooner, 
ffor  it  might  be  they  should  have  surprised  them.  Att  last  we  are  out 
of  those  lakes. 


150  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 

On  the  lower  Ottawa  river,  after  passing  the  Calumet  rapids, 
the  voyageurs  were  harassed  by  small  parties  of  the  Iroquois, 
who  endeavored  to  bar  their  advance  but  were  defeated.  In 
speaking  of  one  of  their  encounters,  against  "16  boats  of  our 
ennemy,"  Radisson  enumerates  the  Indian  tribes  represented  in 
his  company,  as  follows. 

*  *  *  We  begin  to  make  outcryes  &  sing.  The  hurrons  in  one 
side,  the  Algonquins  att  the  other  side,  the  Ottanak  [Ottawas],  the 
panoestigons  [Saulteurs,  Ojibways],  the  Amickkoick  [Beaver  Indians], 
the  Nadonicenago  [Sinagoes,  an  Ottawa  band],  the  ticacon  [probably 
Tatarga,  the  Prairie  Sioux],  and  we  both  encouraged  them  all,  crying 
out  with  a  loud  noise. 

After  the  latest  encounter  with  the  Iroquois,  in  running 
rapids  of  "that  swift  streame  *  *  *  the  bad  lacke  was," 
says  Radisson,  "that  where  my  brother  was  the  boat  [over]  turned 
in  the  torrent,  being  seaven  of  them  together,  weare  in  great 
danger,  ffor  God  was  mercifull  to  give  them  strength  to 
save  themselves.  *  *  *  My  brother  lost  his  booke  of  annota- 
tions of  the  last  yeare  of  our  being  in  these  foraigne  nations. 
We  lost  never  a  castor,  but  may  be  some  better  thing.  It's 
better  [that  one]  loose  all  then  lose  his  life."  The  place  of 
this  misfortune,  as  we  learn  in  the  description  of  the  return  from 
the  second  western  expedition,  was  the  Long  Sault  of  the  Ot- 
tawa, a  series  of  rapids  extending  nearly  six  miles  next  below 
Grenville,  about  halfway  between  Ottawa  and  Montreal.  Many 
times  will  Minnesota  historians  regret  that  the  diary  of  Groseil- 
liers  at  Prairie  island  was  thus  lost!  Instead,  we  have  only  what 
Radisson  remembered  and  wrote  for  his  English  patrons  about 
ten  years  afterward. 

The  arrival  of  this  company,  with  their  large  stock  of  furs, 
brought  great  rejoicing  to  the  French  settlements,  which  had 
languished,  on  account  of  the  failure  of  the  fur  trade,  since 
1649-50.  when  the  Hurons,  with  whom  principally  this  trade 
existed,  were  mostly  killed,  and  the  others  driven  from  their 
country,  by  the  Iroquois  and  by  famine  following  their  cruel 
warfare.  Radisson  wrote: 


GROSEILLIERS   AND  RADISSON.  151 

*  *     *    I  give  you  leave  if  those  of  mont  Royall  weare  not  over- 
joyed   to    see    us    arrived    where   they    affirme    us    the    pitiful    conditions 
that    the    country    was    by    the    cruelty    of    these    cruell    barbars,    that 
perpetually   killed   &   slaughtered   to  the   very   gate   of   the   ffrench   fort 
*    *     *    We  came  to  Quebecq,  where  we  are  saluted  with  the  thundring 
of  the  guns   &  batteryes   of   the  fort,  and  of  the   3   shipps   that  weare 
then   at   anchor,   which   had   gon   back   to   france   without   castors   if   we 
had    not    come.    We    weare    well    traited    for    5    dayes.    The    Governor 
made   gifts   &    sent   2  Brigantins   to   bring  us   to   the   3   rivers.    *     *     * 

ACCOUNT  IN  THE  JESUIT  RELATION  OF  1655-56. 

The  parallel  narration  of  this  expedition  in  the  Jesuit  Re- 
lation of  1655-56  supplies  some  very  interesting  and  important 
additional  details: 

On  the  sixth  day  of  August,  1654,  two  young  Frenchmen,  full  of 
courage,  having  received  permission  from  Monsieur  the  Governor  of  the 
Country  to  embark  with  some  of  the  Peoples  who  had  come  to  our  French 
settlements,  began  a  journey  of  more  than  five  hundred  leagues  under 
the  guidance  of  these  Argonauts, — conveyed,  not  in  great  Galleons 
or  large  oared  Barges,  but  in  little  Gondolas  of  bark.  The  two  Pil- 
grims fully  expected  to  return  in  the  Spring  of  1655,  but  those  Peoples 
did  not  conduct  them  home  until  toward  the  end  of  August  of  this 
year,  1656.  Their  arrival  caused  the  Country  universal  joy,  for  they 
were  accompanied  by  fifty  canoes,  laden  with  goods  which  the  French 
come  to  this  end  of  the  world  to  procure.  The  fleet  rode  in  state  and 
in  fine  order  along  our  mighty  river,  propelled  by  five  hundred  arms, 
and  guided  by  as  many  eyes,  most  of  which  had  never  seen  the  great 
wooden  canoes  of  the  French, — that  is  to  say,  their  Ships. 

Having  landed,  amid  the  stunning  noise  of  Cannon,  and  having 
quickly  built  their  temporary  dwellings,  the  Captains  ascended  to  Fort 
saint  Louys  to  salute  Monsieur  our  Governor,  bearing  their  speeches 
in  their  hands.  These  were  two  presents,  which  represent  words  among 
these  Peoples.  One  of  the  two  gifts  asked  for  some  Frenchmen,  to  go 
and  pass  the  Winter  in  their  Country;  while  the  other  made  request 
for  some  Fathers  of  our  Society,  to  teach  all  the  Nations  of  those  vast 
Regions  the  way  to  Heaven.  They  were  answered,  in  their  own  way, 
by  presents,  and  were  very  willingly  granted  all  that  they  asked.  But, 
while  those  assigned  to  this  great  undertaking  are  making  their  pre- 
parations, let  us  learn  some  news  from  the  two  French  Pilgrims  and 
from  their  hosts. 

*  *     *    We    were    told    of    many    Nations    surrounding    the    Nation 
of  the  Sea    [the  Winnebagoes]   which  some  have  called  "the  Stinkards," 


152  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 

because  its  people  formerly  lived  on  the  shores  of  the  Sea,  which  they 
call  Ouinipeg,  that  is,  "stinking  water."  The  Liniouek  [Illinois],  their 
neighbors,  comprise  about  sixty  Villages;  the  Nadouesiouek  [Sioux] 
have  fully  forty;  the  Pouarak  [Assiniboines],  at  least  thirty;  and  the 
Kiristinons  [Crees]  surpass  all  the  above  in  extent,  reaching  as  far  as 
the  North  Sea.  The  Country  of  the  Hurons,  which  had  only  seven- 
teen Villages,  extending  over  about  as  many  leagues,  maintained  fully 
thirty  thousand  people. 

*  *  *  These  two  young  men  have  not  undergone  hardships  for 
naught  in  their  long  journey.  Not  only  have  they  enriched  some 
Frenchmen  upon  their  return,  but  they  also  caused  great  joy  in  all 
Paradise,  during  their  travels,  by  Baptizing  and  sending  to  Heaven 
about  three  hundred  little  children,  who  began  to  know,  love,  and 
possess  God,  as  soon  as  they  were  washed  in  his  blood  through  the 
waters  of  Baptism.  They  awakened  in  the  minds  of  those  Peoples  the 
remembrance  of  the  beauties  of  our  Faith,  whereof  they  had  acquired 
the  first  tincture  in  the  Country  of  the  Hurons,  when  they  visited  our 
Fathers  living  there,  or  when  some  of  us  approached  the  Regions  border- 
ing on  their  Country. 

The  Indians  in  the  council  at  Prairie  island,  and  also  Radis- 
son  in  his  speech  there,  mentioned  the  baptism  of  children; 
and  we  may  readily  believe  that  it  was  done  by  Groseilliers,  who 
during  the  years  1641-46  had  been  a  lay  helper  of  the  Jesuits  in 
their  very  successful  Huron  missions.  If  the  "booke  of  annota- 
tions" by  Groseilliers  had  not  been  lost,  as  before  related,  we 
should  doubtless  have  therein  many  further  details  of  the  year 
spent  on  Prairie  island. 

In  comparing  the  tribal  names  given  by  Radisson  with 
those  in  the  Jesuit  Relation,  it  is  noticeable  that  the  latter  is 
more  explicit,  containing  definite  information  of  the  Illinois, 
Sioux,  Assiniboines,  and  Crees,  who  were  either  unknown  or 
lees  fully  known  to  Radisson,  so  far  as  appears  in  his  narration. 
For  these  tribes  the  Jesuit  writer  probably  obtained  information, 
as  the  Relation  itself  indicates,  from  some  of  the  Indians  in  the 
company  that  came  with  Groseilliers  and  Radisson,  learning 
more  perhaps  than  these  French  traders  knew.  Their  retinue 
doubtless  included  Indians  who  had  traveled  far  beyond  their 
own  tribal  areas,  and  who  might  inform  the  Jesuits  concerning 
the  distant  southern  and  northern  Indians. 


GROSEILLIEBS   AND  EADISSON.  153 

The  tribes  and  bands  enumerated  by  Radisson,  excepting 
probably  "the  ticacon,"  had  been  driven  from  their  former  homes 
around  Lake  Huron  and  at  the  Sault  Ste.  Marie,  and  were  doubt- 
less each  represented  in  the  large  company  of  refugees,  called  by 
Perrot  the  Hurons  and  Ottawas,  who,  as  he  related,  fled  to  the 
Mississippi  river  and  settled  temporarily  on  Prairie  island  and 
in  its  vicinity.  Before  their  coming  to  this  upper  part  of  the 
Mississippi,  they  had  visited  "the  great  Nation  of  the  Alimiwee" 
[Liniouek,  Illinois],  the  populous  Algonquian  tribe  of  sixty 
villages  on  the  Illinois  and  Mississippi  rivers. 

When  it  is  remembered  that  our  Frenchmen  spent  more 
than  a  year  at  Prairie  island,  and  that  they  had  "good  corres- 
pondence" and  "sent  ambassadors  to  the  nations  that  use  to 
go  down  to  the  French/'  it  appears  possible  that  there  were 
also  some  who  then  went  for  the  first  time,  representatives  of 

Illinois,  and  of  the  Sioux,  Assiniboines,  and  Crees,  coming 
long  distances,  respectively,  from  the  south,  west,  and  north, 
bringing  their  furs,  and  joining  the  retinue  of  these  traders, 
escorted  by  the  Hurons  and  Ottawas,  in  the  long  trip  east  of 
about  two  thousand  miles. 

It  required  probably  about  seven  weeks  to  go  from  Prairie 
island  to  Lower  Canada;  and  a  longer  time  was  used  in  going 
back,  propelling  the  canoes  against  the  current  of  the  Ottawa 
and  Mattawa  rivers,  along  the  shores  of  Georgian  bay,  Lakes 
Huron  and  Michigan,  and  Green  Bay,  and  through  the  Fox 
and  Wisconsin  rivers,  to  the  Mississippi  and  the  vast  western 
prairies. 

Why  were  not  the  names  of  Groseilliers  and  Radisson  given 
in  the  Jesuit  Eolations  ?  Much  is  told  of  their  expeditions  by 
these  missionary  reports  for  1656  and  1660;  but  their  names, 
though  surely  well  known  to  the  Jesuit  writer,  are  not  stated. 
We  may  conjecture  that  the  writer  had  some  distrust  of  their 
continuing  in  loyalty  to  the  church  or  to  the  government.  On 
their  part,  the  brothers-in-law  concealed,  as  much  as  they  could, 
the  discoveries  that  they  had  made,  because,  as  Badisson  says, 
their  chief  purpose,  to  reach  "the  bay  of  the  porth,"  had  not 
been  attained.  They  eagerly  looked  forward  to  another  expedi- 
tion. 


154  MINNESOTA  IN  THEEE  CENTURIES. 

fiADISSON'S   EXCURSIONS   IN  THE   SUMMER   OF   1655. 

Here  we  may  conveniently  ask,  Among  what  tribes,  and  how 
far  from  Prairie  island,  did  Radisson  go  in  his  hunting  ex- 
cursions with  the  savages  in  the  summer  while  Groseilliers  was 
raising  corn?  The  account  of  his  wanderings  that  summer  is 
given  after  the  main  narration  of  the  expedition  and  its  return, 
and  is  as  follows: 

We  weare  4  moneths  in  our  voyage  without  doeing  anything  but 
goe  from  river  to  river.  We  mett  severall  sorts  of  people.  We  con- 
versed with  them,  being  long  time  in  alliance  with  them.  By  the  per- 
suasion of  som  of  them  we  went  into  the  great  river  that  divides  it- 
selfe  in  2,  where  the  hurrons  with  some  Ottanake  &  the  wildmen  that 
had  warrs  with  them  had  retired.  There  is  not  great  difference  in  their 
language,  as  we  weare  told.  This  nation  have  warrs  against  those  of 
[the]  forked  river.  It  is  so  called  because  it  has  2  branches,  the  one 
towards  the  west,  the  other  towards  the  South,  which  we  believe 
runns  towards  Mexico,  by  the  tokens  they  gave  us.  Being  among  these 
people,  they  told  us  the  prisoners  they  take  tells  them  that  they  have 
warrs  against  a  nation,  against  men  that  build  great  cabbans  &  have 
great  beards  &  had  such  knives  as  we  had.  Moreover  they  shewed  a 
Decad  of  beads  &  guilded  pearls  that  they  have  had  from  that  people, 
which  made  us  believe  they  weare  Europeans.  They  shewed  one  of 
that  nation  that  was  taken  the  yeare  before.  We  understood  him  not; 
he  was  much  more  tawny  than  they  with  whome  we  weare.  His  arms 
and  leggs  weare  turned  outside;  that  was  the  punishment  inflicted 
uppon  him.  So  they  doe  with  them  that  they  take,  &  kill  them  with 
clubbs  &  doe  often  eat  them.  They  doe  not  burne  their  prisoners  as 
those  of  the  northern  parts. 

We  weare  informed  of  that  nation  that  live  in  the  other  river. 
These  weare  men  of  extraordinary  height  &  bignesse,  that  made  us 
believe  they  had  no  communication  with  them.  They  live  onely  uppon 
Come  &  Citrulles  [pumpkins],  which  are  mighty  bigg.  They  have  fish 
in  plenty  throughout  the  yeare.  They  have  fruit  as  big  as  the  heart 
of  an  Oriniak,  which  grows  on  vast  trees  which  in  compasse  are  three 
armefull  in  compasse.  When  they  see  litle  men  they  are  afraid  & 
cry  out,  which  makes  many  come  help  them.  Their  arrows  are  not 
of  stones  as  ours  are,  but  of  fish  boans  &  other  boans  that  they  worke 
greatly,  as  all  other  things.  Their  dishes  are  made  of  wood.  I  having 
seene  them,  could  not  but  admire  the  curiosity  of  their  worke.  They 
have  great  calumetts  of  great  stones,  red  &  greene.  They  make  a  store 


GEOSEILLIEKS   AXD   EADISSOX.  155 

of  tobacco.  They  have  a  kind  of  drink  that  makes  them  mad  for  a 
whole  day.  This  I  have  not  seene,  therefore  you  may  believe  as  you 
please. 

When    I    came    backe   I    found    my    brother    sick,    as    I    said    before. 
God    gave    him    his    health,    more    by    his    courage    then    by    any    good 
«    medicine,  ffor  our  bodyes  are  not  like  those  of  the  wildmen.    *     *     * 

It  is  evident,  from  this  account,  that  Eadisson  and  his 
companions  went  southeastward  and  hunted  on  the  east  side  of 
the  Mississippi,  going  by  portages  from  one  river  to  another 
until  they  reached  the  Illinois,  "the  great  river  that  divides  it- 
self in  two,"  so  called  apparently  because  it  is  formed  by  the 
junction  of  the  Des  Plaines  and  the  Kankakee,  each  an  impor- 
tant canoe  route.  The  Jesuit  Eelation  of  1659-60  informs  us 
that  the  Hurons  and  Ottawas  retreated  thither  and  were  kindly 
received  by  the  Illinois  tribe,  from  whom  then,  and  during  Kadis- 
son's  hunting  trip,  might  be  learned  all  that  he  narrates  of 
the  "forked  river"  and  the  people  there  and  beyond.  We  should 
accordingly  identify  the  "forked  river"  as  the  Mississippi,  run- 
ning on  "towards  Mexico"  after  receiving  the  great  Missouri,  the 
route  of  many  aboriginal  canoe  expeditions  "towards  the  west." 
But  Groseilliers  and  Eadisson  were  quite  unaware  that  their 
own  river  at  Prairie  island  is  the  main  eastern  stream  of  their 
"forked  river,"  being,  in  its  farther  course  and  as  to  the  area  of 
its  basin,  the  largest  of  North  America. 

Eadisson  recorded  what  he  gathered  from  the  Indians  of  the 
Illinois  river  concerning  those  on  the  Missouri  and  farther 
south  and  southwest.  Indeed,  according  to  his  own  narrative 
of  his  captivity  among  the  Iroquois,  he  had  there  heard  several 
years  previously  (from  an  Iroquois  who  had  ranged  far 
and  wide  in  the  west,  to  the  same  "river  that  divides  itself  in 
two")  a  part  of  the  information  that  he  gives  as  learned  in  this 
expedition,  of  gigantic  men,  and  of  trees  that  bear  fruit  as  big 
as  the  heart  of  an  elk,  thought  by  the  late  Captain  Blakeley  to 
refer  to  pine  cones  with  edible  nutlike  seeds,  which  are  used 
as  food  in  Mexico  and  California.  For  a  full  consideration  of 
what  Eadisson  thus  learned  and  wrote  of  the  Missouri  and  the 
far  southwest,  the  reader  may  profitably  consult  the  paper  by 


156  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 

Captain  Blakeley  in  the  eighth  volume  of  the  Minnesota  Histor- 
ical Society  Collections. 

It  need  not  cause  surprise  that  Radisson  learned  much 
concerning  regions  far  beyond  the  limits  of  his  own  travels,  and 
that  he  was  thereby  tempted  to  add  a  false  year  in  each  of  the 
expeditions  to  the  west,  telling  what  he  heard  from  the  Indians 
as  if  it  was  actually  seen  by  himself.  He  first  learned  of  the 
Illinois  river  and  of  the  country  beyond  while  he  was  a  captive 
in  the  region  of  central  New  York.  Later  he  claimed  to  have 
gone  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  though  probably  never  nearer  to  it 
than  central  Illinois;  and,  last  of  all,  he  claimed  to  have  tra- 
veled from  the  west  part  of  Lake  Superior  to  Hudson  bay, 
though  probably  not  advancing  so  far  north  as  to  the  northern 
boundary  of  Minnesota. 

NARRATIVE  OF  THE  SECOND  WESTERN  EXPEDITION. 

After  returning  from  the  west  in  August,  1656,  Groseilliers 
and  Radisson  took  a  period  of  rest.  This  was  succeeded  by 
Radisson's  expedition  with  others,  Indians  and  French,  to  the 
Onondaga  country,  which  he  places  as  his  "second  voyage." 
From  this  absence  he  returned  about  the  end  of  March,  1658. 
Afterward,  in  the  latter  part  of  the  summer  of  this  year  or  of 
the  next  year,  1659,  the  two  brothers-in-law,  and  a  party  of 
returning  Indians,  again  started  for  the  farthest  west,  with  a 
stock  of  merchandise  suited  for  barter  in  their  fur  trading. 

The  narrative  by  Radisson  very  explicitly  relates  their 
travels  and  experiences  for  two  years,  which  would  require 
their  departure  to  have  been  in  1658;  for  the  date  of  their  re- 
turn, known  with  certainty  from  several  concurring  records,  was 
in  August,  1660.  But  the  Relation  and  Journal  of  the  Jesuits 
both  indicate  that  this  expedition  occupied  only  one  year.  Scru- 
tinizing the  narrative,  with  this  discrepancy  in  mind,  I  am  fully, 
though  reluctantly,  persuaded  that  here  again  Radisson  was 
guilty  in  his  writing,  as  for  the  preceding  western  expedition,  of 
fictitiously  adding  a  year,  this  being  from  the  first  spring 
to  the  second  in  his  narration,  comprising  the  visit  to  Hudson  bay. 


GEOSEILLIEES   AND   EADISSON.  157 

The  numerous  reasons  for  this  conclusion  will  appear  as  we  pro- 
ceed. It  is  therefore  to  be  understood  that  the  beginning  of  this 
expedition  was  in  August,  1659,  soon  after  a  "company  of  the 
Sault"  (Ojibways)  arrived  at  Three  Eivers. 

Aillebout,  the  governor  of  Quebec,  who  in  1656  welcomed 
and  honored  these  traders  because  their  enterprise  had  given 
new  courage  to  the  colony,  was  succeeded  in  the  summer  of 
1658  by  Argenson,  who  held  the  office  three  years.  He  treated 
Groseilliers  and  Eadisson  with  injustice  as  to  the  terms  for 
granting  to  them  the  requisite  official  permission  or  license  for 
this  expedition.  Not  daunted,  however,  they  departed  at  night, 
disregarding  the  governor's  special  prohibition,  but  bearing 
the  good  wishes  of  the  people  and  garrison  of  Three  Eivers, 
voiced  by  the  sentry,  "God  give  you  a  good  voyage." 

The  journey  up  the  Ottawa  river  was  enlivened  by  skir- 
mishes with  Iroqouis  rangers,  some  being  killed  on  each  side, 
which  Eadisson  relates  in  his  fervid  style,  with  many  details  of 
the  wary  Indian  warfare.  After  twenty-two  days  of  frequent 
danger,  hardship  and  hunger,  the  canoe  flotilla  entered  Georgian 
bay  of  Lake  Huron.  Eadisson  says:  "Our  equipage  and  we  weare 
ready  to  wander  uppon  that  sweet  sea;  but  most  of  that  coast 
is  void  of  wild  beasts,  so  there  was  great  famine  amongst  us 
for  want.  Yett  the  coast  afforded  us  some  small  fruits.  There 
I  found  the  kindnesse  &  charity  of  the  wildmen,  ffor  when  they 
found  any  place  of  any  quantity  of  it  [blueberries]  they  called 
me  and  my  brother  to  eat  and  replenish  our  bellys,  showing  them- 
selves far  gratfuller  then  many  Christians  even  to  their  owne 
relations." 

Coasting  northwestward,  they  soon  came  to  St.  Mary's  river 
and  falls,  still  commonly  known  by  the  ancient  French  name 
Sault  Ste.  Marie,  outflowing  from  Lake  Superior.  It  appears 
in  Eadisson's  speaking  of  the  whitefish,  that  Groseilliers  and 
himself  had  never  come  there  previously;  but  in  the  first  win- 
ter of  the  first  western  expedition  they  had  probably  visited  the 
Saulteurs  (Ojibways)  on  the  south  side  of  Lake  Superior  in  the 
vicinity  of  Au  Train  river  and  bay,  due  north  of  Green  bay  and 
a  hundred  and  twenty-five  miles  west  of  the  Sault.  Exactly 


158  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 

twenty-five  years  had  passed  since  Jean  Nicolet,  with  his  seven 
Huron  canoemen,  came  to  the  Sault  in  the  autumn  of  1634, 
being  the  first  of  Europeans  to  look  on  the  greatest  of  our 
inland  freshwater  seas.  Groseilliers  and  Radisson  were  now  the 
first  white  men  to  navigate  its  length  and  to  travel  beyond 
among  the  tribes  of  northern  Wisconsin  and  northern  Minnesota. 
0  jib  way  s  were  the  escort  of  the  French  traders  and  of 
the  Indians  from  other  tribes  in  this  expedition.  They  had 
formerly  lived  at  the  Sault,  and  hence  were  called  by  the  French 
the  Saulteurs;  but  they  had  been  driven  away  westward  by  the 
raids  of  the  Iroquois,  so  that  at  this  time  the  region  was  desolate 
without  inhabitants.  The  narrative  of  the  arrival  and  short  stay 
at  St.  Mary's  Falls  is  as  follows: 

Afterwardes  we  entered  into  a  straight  which  had  10  leagues  in 
length,  full  of  islands,  where  we  wanted  not  fish.  We  came  after  to  a 
rapid  that  makes  the  separation  of  the  lake  of  the  hurrons,  that  we 
calle  Superior,  or  upper,  for  that  the  wildmen  hold  it  to  be  longer  & 
broader,  besids  a  great  many  islands,  which  maks  appear  in  a  bigger 
extent.  This  rapid  was  formerly  the  dwelling  of  those  with  whome 
wee  weare,  and  consequently  we  must  not  aske  them  if  they  knew 
where  they  have  layed.  Wee  made  cottages  att  our  advantages,  and 
found  the  truth  of  what  those  men  had  often  [said],  that  if  once  we 
could  come  to  that  place  we  should  make  good  cheare  of  a  fish  that 
they  call  Assickmack,  which  signifieth  a  whitefish.  The  beare,  the 
castors,  and  the  Oriniack  shewed  themselves  often,  but  to  their  cost; 
indeed  it  was  to  us  like  a  terrestriall  paradise.  After  so  long  fastniiig, 
after  so  great  paines  that  we  had  taken,  finde  ourselves  so  well  by 
choosing  our  dyet,  and  resting  when  we  had  a  minde  to  it,  't  ia  here 
that  we  must  tast  with  pleasur  a  sweet  bitt.  We  doe  not  aske  for 
a  good  sauce;  it's  better  to  have  it  naturally;  it  is  the  way  to  dis- 
tinguish the  sweet  from  the  bitter. 

But  the  season  was  far  spent,  and  use  diligence  and  leave  that 
place  so  wished,  which  wee  shall  bewaile,  to  the  coursed  Iroquoits. 
*  *  *  We  left  that  inn  without  reckoning  with  our  host.  It  is 
cheape  when  wee  are  not  to  put  the  hand  to  the  purse;  neverthelesse 
we  must  pay  out  of  civility;  the  one  gives  thanks  to  the  woods,  the 
other  to  the  river,  the  third  to  the  earth,  the  other  to  the  rocks  that 
stayes  the  fish.  *  *  • 

As  the  voyageurs  advanced  along  the  south  shore  of  Lake 
Superior,  Radisson  saw  and  well  remembered  all  the  chief  geogra- 


GROSEILLIERS   AND   RADISSON.  159 

phic   features.     Of  the  high   sand  dunes  in  the  vicinity  of  the 
Point  Au  Sable,  nearly  a  hundred  miles  from  the  Sault,  he  says: 

*  *  *  We  saw  banckes  of  sand  so  high  that  one  of  our  wildmen 
went  upp  for  curiositie;  being  there,  did  shew  no  more  then  a  crow. 
That  place  is  most  dangerous  when  that  there  is  any  storme,  being  no 
landing  place  so  long  as  the  sandy  bancks  are  under  water;  and  when 
the  wind  blowes,  that  sand  doth  rise  by  a  strang  kind  of  whirling  that 
are  able  to  choake  the  passengers.  One  day  you  will  see  50  small 
mountaines  att  one  side,  and  the  next  day,  if  the  wind  changes,  on 
the  other  side.  *  *  * 

About  fifteen  miles  farther  on,  south-westward  from  the 
Point  Au  Sable  are  the  Grand  Portal,  or  Arched  Rock,  and  other 
water-worn  cliffs,  well  described  in  the  narrative. 

After  this  we  came  to  a  remarquable  place.  It's  a  banke  of  Rocks 
that  the  wildmen  make  a  sacrifice  to;  they  calls  it  Nanitoucksinagoit, 
which  signifies  the  likenesse  of  the  devill.  They  fling  much  tobacco 
and  other  things  in  its  veneration.  It  is  a  thing  most  incredible  that 
that  lake  should  be  so  boisterous,  that  the  waves  of  it  should  have  the 
strength  to  doe  what  I  have  to  say  by  this  my  discours;  first,  that 
it's  so  high  and  soe  deepe  that  it's  impossible  to  claime  up  to  the 
point.  There  comes  many  sorte  of  birds  that  makes  there  nest  here, 
the  goilants,  which  is  a  white  sea-bird  of  the  bignesse  of  pigeon,  which 
makes  me  believe  what  the  wildmen  told  me  concerning  the  sea  to  be 
neare  directly  to  the  point.  It's  like  a  great  Portall,  by  reason  of  the 
beating  of  the  waves.  The  lower  part  of  that  oppening  is  as  bigg  as  a 
tower,  and  grows  bigger  in  the  going  up.  There  is,  I  believe,  6  acres 
of  land  above  it.  A  shipp  of  500  tuns  could  passe  by,  soe  bigg  is  the 
arch.  I  gave  it  the  name  of  the  portall  of  St.  Peter,  because  my  name 
is  so  called,  and  that  I  was  the  first  Christian  that  ever  saw  it.  There 
is  in  that  place  caves  very  deepe,  caused  by  the  same  violence.  We 
must  looke  to  ourselves,  and  take  time  with  our  small  boats.  The 
coast  of  rocks  is  5  or  6  leagues,  and  there  scarce  a  place  to  putt  a 
boat  in  assurance  from  the  waves.  When  the  lake  is  agitated  the 
waves  goeth  in  these  concavities  with  force  and  make  a  most  horrible 
noise,  most  like  the  shooting  of  great  guns. 

Radisson  continues  with  description  of  the  passage  across 
the  base  of  the  Keweenaw  peninsula,  which  projects  fifty  miles 
northeasterly  into  the  lake. 

Some  dayes  afterwards  we  arrived  to  a  very  beautifull  point  of 
sand  where  there  are  3  beautifull  islands,  that  we  called  of  the  Trinity 
[now  called  Huron  islands];  there  be  3  in  triangle.  From  this  place 


160  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 

we  discovered  a  bay  very  deepe  [Keweenaw  bay],  where  a  river  emp- 
ties it  selfe  with  a  noise  for  the  quantitie  &  dept  of  the  water.  We 
must  stay  there  3  dayes  to  wait  for  faire  weather  to  make  the 
Trainage,  which  was  about  6  leagues  wide.  Soe  done,  we  came  to  the 
mouth  of  a  small  river,  where  we  killed  some  Oriniacks.  We  found 
meddows  that  weare  squared,  and  10  leagues  as  smooth  as  a  board. 
We  went  up  some  5  leagues  further,  where  we  found  some  pools  made 
by  the  castors.  We  must  breake  them  that  we  might  passe.  The 
sluce  being  broaken,  what  a  wonderfull  thing  to  see  the  Industrie  of 
that  animal,  which  had  drowned  more  then  20  leagues  in  the  grounds, 
and  cutt  all  the  trees,  having  left  non  to  make  a  fire  if  the  countrey 
should  be  dried  up.  Being  come  to  the  height,  we  must  drague  our 
boats  over  a  trembling  ground  for  the  space  of  an  houre.  *  *  * 

Having  passed  that  place,  we  made  a  carriage  through  the  land  for 
2  leagues.  The  way  was  well  beaten  because  of  the  commers  and 
goers,  who  by  making  that  passage  shortens  their  passage  by  8  dayes 
by  tourning  about  the  point  that  goes  very  fair  in  that  great  lake, 
that  is  to  say,  5  to  come  to  the  point,  and  3  for  to  come  to  the  land- 
ing of  that  place  of  carriage.  In  the  end  of  that  point,  that  goeth 
very  farre,  there  is  an  isle,  as  I  was  told,  all  of  copper.  This  I  have 
not  scene.  They  say  that  from  the  isle  in  a  faire  and  calme  wether, 
beginning  from  sun  rising  to  sun  sett,  they  come  to  a  great  island 
[Isle  Royale],  from  whence  they  come  the  next  morning  to  firme 
land  att  the  other  side;  so  by  reason  of  20  leagues  a  day  that  lake 
should  be  broad  of  6  score  and  10  leagues.  The  wildmen  doe  not  much 
lesse  when  the  weather  is  fine. 

Isle  Royale  is  plainly  visible  from  the  high  Keweenaw  pen- 
insula; and  it  soon  came  into  full  view  to  the  toiling  Indians 
in  their  canoes.  The  distance  is  only  forty-five  or  fifty  miles, 
and  was  passed  over  without  difficulty  in  the  fifteen  hours, 
more  or  less,  of  a  long  summer  day.  What  Radisson  meant 
in  computing  the  distance  of  130  leagues  is  not  evident.  Twenty 
leagues,  which  he  estimates  for  one  day's  canoeing,  from  Kewee- 
naw point  to  Isle  Royale,  are  fifty-five  miles,  the  common 
league  of  France  being  2.76  English  miles.  Parties  of  Ojibways 
were  accustomed,  as  he  says,  to  make  this  passage  across  the 
lake,  but  only  in  favorable  weather  and  to  accomplish  it 
in  a  single  day,  lest  in  a  cloudy  day  or  by  night  they  should  miss 
the  right  course,  or  lest  in  storms  their  light  birch  bark  canoes 
should  be  swamped  by  big  waves.  Nor  need  we  doubt  even  that 
the  Crees,  in  their  smaller  canoes,  could  do  the  same,  for  they 


GROSEILLIERS   AND  RADISSON.  161 

crossed  from  the  Bayfield  peninsula  to  the  north  shore  near  the 
present  town  of  Two  Harbors,  as  narrated  later,  which  is  half 
as  far. 

After  five  days  of  canoeing  beyond  the  Keweenaw  portage, 
Groseilliers  and  Radisson,  with  their  company  of  Ojibways,  Hur- 
ons  and  Ottawas,  came  to  a  camp  of  Crees  on  the  lake  shore,  who 
gladly  welcomed  them  on  account  of  their  French  merchandise. 
Somewhat  farther  on,  at  the  Montreal  river,  many  of  the  com- 
pany, apparenty  Ojibways,  turned  their  canoes  up  that  river,  leav- 
ing, however,  a  large  flotilla  to  continue  westward  along  the  lake 
coast.  Half  a  day's  journey  then  brought  the  French  traders, 
with  their  Indian  escort  and  retinue  of  the  various  tribes,  to  Che- 
quamegon  bay,  which  became  their  base  for  departure  inland  and 
for  return  after  their  winter  travels  and  trade. 

FOET  AT  CHEQTJAMEGOlSr  BAY. 

Resuming  the  narrative  at  the  Montreal  river,  we  learn 
soon  of  the  earliest  dwelling  built  by  white  men  on  the  shores 
of  Lake  Superior,  a  rude  palisade,  with  a  covering  of  boughs. 
The  narrative  runs  thus: 

*  *  Many  of  our  wildmen  went  to  win  the  shortest  way  to 
their  nation,  and  \veare  then  3  and  20  boats,  for  we  mett  with  some 
in  that  lake  that  joyned  with  us,  and  came  to  keepe  us  company,  in 
hopes  to  gett  knives  from  us,  which  they  love  better  then  we  serve 
God,  which  should  make  us  blush  for  shame.  Seaven  boats  stayed  of 
the  nation  of  the  Sault.  We  went  on  half  a  day  before  we  could 
come  to  the  landing  place,  and  wear  forced  to  make  another  carriage 
a  point  of  2  leagues  long  and  some  60  paces  broad.  As  we  came  to 
the  other  sid  we  weare  in  a  bay  of  10  leagues  about,  if  we  had  gone 
in.  By  goeing  about  that  same  point  we  passed  a  straight,  for  that 
point  was  very  nigh  the  other  side,  which  is  a  cape  very  much  elevated 
like  piramides.  That  point  should  be  very  fitt  to  build  &  advantageous 
for  the  building  of  a  fort,  as  we  did  the  spring  following.  In  that 
bay  there  is  a  chanell  where  we  take  great  store  of  fishes,  sturgeons 
of  a  vast  biggnesse,  and  Pycks  of  seaven  foot  long.  Att  the  end  of 
this  bay  we  landed.  The  wildmen  gave  thanks  to  that  which  they 
worship,  we  to  God  of  Gods,  to  see  ourselves  in  a  place  where  we  must 
leave  our  navigation  and  forsake  our  boats  to  undertake  a  harder  peece 
of  worke  in  hand,  to  which  we  are  forced.  The  men  [Hurons  returning] 

I. -9 


162  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 

told  us  that  wee  had  5  great  dayes'  journeys  before  we  should  arrive 
where  their  wives  weare.  We  foresee  the  hard  task  that  we  weare  to 
undergoe  by  carrying  our  bundles  uppon  our  backs.  They  weare  used 
to  it.  Here  every  one  for  himselfe  &  God  for  all. 

We  finding  ourselves  not  able  to  perform  such  a  taske,  &  they 
could  not  well  tell  where  to  finde  their  wives,  fearing  least  the 
Nadoneceronons  had  warrs  against  their  nation  and  forced  them  from 
their  appointed  place,  my  brother  and  I  we  consulted  what  was  best 
to  doe,  and  declared  our  will  to  them,  which  was  thus:  "Brethren,  we 
resolve  to  stay  here,  being  not  accustomed  to  make  any  cariage  on  our 
backs  as  yee  are  wont.  Goe  yee  and  looke  for  your  wives.  We  will 
build  us  a  fort  here.  And  seeing  that  you  are  not  able  to  carry  all 
your  marchandizes  att  once,  we  will  keepe  them  for  you,  and  will  stay 
for  you  14  dayes.  Before  the  time  expired  you  will  send  to  us  if  your 
wfoea  be  alive,  and  if  you  find  them  they  wrill  fetch  what  you  leave  here 
&  what  we  have;  ffor  their  paines  they  shall  receive  guifts  of  us.  Soe 
you  will  see  us  in  your  countrey.  If  they  be  dead,  we  will  spend 
all  to  be  revenged,  and  will  gather  up  the  whole  countrey  for  the  next 
spring,  for  that  purpose  to  destroy  those  that  weare  the  causers  of 
their  death,  and  you  shall  see  our  strenght  and  vallour.  Although 
there  are  seaven  thousand  fighting  men  in  one  village,  you'll  see  we 
will  make  them  runne  away,  &  you  shall  kill  them  to  your  best  liking 
by  the  very  noise  of  our  armes  and  our  presence,  who  are  the  Gods 
of  the  earth  among  those  people." 

They  woundered  very  much  att  our  resolution.  The  next  day  they 
went  their  way  and  we  stay  for  our  assurance  in  the  midst  of  many 
nations,  being  but  two  almost  starved  for  want  of  food.  We  went 
about  to  make  a  fort  of  stakes,  which  Avas  in  this  manner.  Suppo-f 
that  the  watter  side  had  ben  in  one  end;  att  the  same  end  there 
should  be  murtherers,  and  att  need  we  made  a  bastion  in  a  triangle 
to  defend  us  from  assault.  The  doore  was  neare  the  watter  side,  our 
fire  was  in  the  midle,  and  our  bed  on  the  right  hand,  covered.  There 
weare  boughs  of  trees  all  about  our  fort  laved  a  crosse,  one  uppon 
an  other.  Besides  these  boughs  we  had  a  long  cord  tyed  with  some 
small  bells,  which  weare  senteryes.  Finally,  we  made  an  end  of  that 
fort  in  2  dayes'  time.  We  made  end  of  some  fish  that  we  putt  by  for 
neede.  But  as  soone  as  we  are  lodged  we  went  to  fish  for  more 
whilst  the  other  kept  the  house.  I  was  the  fittest  to  goe  out,  being 
yongest.  I  tooke  my  gunne  and  goes  where  I  never  was  before,  ?o  I 
choosed  not  one  way  before  another.  I  went  to  the  woods  some  3  or 
4  miles.  I  find  a  small  brooke,  where  I  walked  by  the  sid  awhile, 
which  brought  me  into  meddowes.  There  was  a  poole  where  weare  a 
good  store  of  bustards.  I  began  to  creepe  though  I  might  come  neare. 
Thought  to  be  in  Canada,  where  the  fowle  is  scared  away:  but  the 
poor  creatures,  seeing  me  flatt  uppon  the  ground,  thought  I  was  a 


GROSEILLIEBS   AND   KADISSOX.  163 

beast  as  well  as  they,  so  they  came  neare  me,  whistling  like  gosslings, 
thinking  to  frighten  me.  The  whistling  that  I  made  them  heare  was 
another  musick  then  theirs.  There  I  killed  3  and  the  rest  scared, 
which  neverthelesse  came  to  that  place  againe  to  see  what  sudain  sick- 
nesse  befeled  their  comrads.  I  shott  againe;  two  payed  for  their  cur- 
iositie.  *  *  * 

There  we  stayed  still  full  12  dayes  without  any  news,  but  we  had 
the  company  of  other  wildmen  of  other  countreys  that  came  to  us 
admiring  our  fort  and  the  workmanshipp.  We  suffered  non  to  goe  in 
but  one  person,  and  liked  it  so  much  the  better,  &  often  durst  not 
goe  in,  so  much  they  stood  in  feare  of  our  armes,  that  weare  in  good 
order,  which  weare  5  guns,  two  musquetons,  3  fowling-pieces,  3  paire 
of  great  pistoletts,  and  2  paire  of  pockett  ons,  and  every  one  his 
sword  and  daggar.  So  that  we  might  say  that  a  Coward  was  not  well 
enough  armed.  *  *  * 

The  12th  day  we  perceived  afarr  off  some  50  yong  men  coming 
towards  us,  with  some  of  our  formest  compagnions.  We  gave  them 
leave  to  come  into  our  fort,  but  they  are  astonied,  calling  us  every  foot 
devills  to  have  made  such  a  machine.  They  brought  us  victualls,  think- 
ing we  weare  half  starved,  but  weare  mightily  mistaken,  for  we  had 
more  for  them  then  they  weare  able  to  eate,  having  3  score  bustards 
and  many  sticks  where  was  meate  hanged  plentifully.  They  offered  to 
carry  our  baggage,  being  come  a  purpose;  but  we  had  not  so  much  mar- 
chandize  as  when  they  went  from  us,  because  we  hid  some  of  them, 
that  they  might  not  have  suspicion  of  us.  We  told  them  that  for  feare 
of  the  dayly  multitud  of  people  that  came  to  see  us,  for  to  have  our 
goods,  would  kill  us.  We  therefore  tooke  a  boat  and  putt  into  it  our 
marchandises;  this  we  brought  farre  into  the  bay,  where  we  sunke 
them,  biding  our  devill  not  to  lett  them  to  be  wett  nor  rusted,  nor 
suffer  them  to  be  taken  away,  which  he  promised  faithlesse  that  we 
should  retourne  and  take  them  out  of  his  hands;  att  which  they  weare 
astonished,  believing  it  to  be  true  as  the  Christians  the  Gospell.  We 
hid  them  in  the  ground  on  the  other  sid  of  the  river  in  a  peece  of 
ground.  We  told  them  that  lye  that  they  should  not  have  suspicion 
of  us.  *  *  *  We  weare  Cesars,  being  nobody  to  contradict  us. 
We  Avent  away  free  from  any  burden,  whilst  those  poore  miserable 
thought  themselves  happy  to  carry  our  Equipage,  for  the  hope  that 
they  had  that  we  should  give  them  a  brasse  ring,  or  an  awle,  OP  an 
needle. 

There  came  above  foure  hundred  persons  to  see  us  goe  away  from 
that  place,  which  admired  more  our  actions  [than]  the  fools  of  Paris 
to  see  enter  their  King  and  the  Infanta  of  Spaine,  his  spouse;  for  they 
cry  out,  "God  save  the  King  and  Queene!"  Those  make  horrid  noise, 
and  called  Gods  and  Devills  of  the  Earth  and  heavens.  We  marched 
foure  dayes  through  the  woods.  The  countrey  is  beautiful!,  with  very 


164  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 

few  mountaines,  the  woods  cleare.  Att  last  we  came  within  a  league 
of  the  Cabbans,  where  we  layed  that  the  next  day  might  be  for  our 
•  •ntrcy.  We  2  poore  adventurers  for  the  honour  of  our  countrey,  or  of 
those  that  shall  deserve  it  from  that  day;  the  nimblest  and  stoutest 
went  before  to  warne  before  the  people  that  we  should  make  our  entry 
to-morrow.  Every  one  prepares  to  see  what  they  never  before  have 
seene.  We  weare  in  cottages  which  weare  neare  a  litle  lake  some  8 
leagues  in  circuit.  Att  the  watterside  there  weare  abundance  of  litle 
boats  made  of  trees  that  they  have  hollowed,  and  of  rind. 

This  lake  is  thought  by  Father  Chrysostom  Verwyst  to  be 
Lac  Courte  Oreille,  one  of  the  northwestern  sources  of  the  Chip- 
pewa  river  in  northern  Wisconsin,  nearly  sixty  miles  south- 
southwest  of  Chequamegon  bay.  It  is  still  called  Ottawa  lake 
by  the  Ojibways,  who  have  a  tradition  that  very  long  ago 
Ottawas  died  there  of  starvation.  The  tradition  has  probably 
been  passed  along  two  centuries  and  a  half,  from  the  terrible 
winter  of  1659-60,  to  be  described  by  Radisson,  when  these 
explorers  and  the  Indians  of  this  region  suffered  for  several 
weeks  a  frightful  famine. 

The  narrative,  referring  still  to  the  "litle  boats,"  continues: 

The  next  day  we  weare  to  embarque  in  them,  and  arrived  att  the 
village  by  watter,  which  was  composed  of  a  hundred  cabans  without 
pallasados.  There  is  nothing  but  cryes.  *  *  *  We  destinated  3 
presents,  one  for  the  men,  one  for  the  women,  and  the  other  for  the 
children,  to  the  end  that  they  should  remember  that  journey;  that  we 
should  be  spoaken  of  a  hundred  years  after,  if  other  Europeans  should 
not  come  in  those  quarters  and  be  liberal  to  them,  which  will  hardly 
come  to  passe.  *  *  *  The  third  guift  was  of  brasse  rings,  of  small 
bells,  and  rasades  of  divers  coulours,  and  given  in  this  maner.  We 
sent  a  man  to  make  all  the  children  come  together.  When  they  weare 
there  we  throw  these  things  over  their  heads.  You  would  admire  what 
a  beat  was  among  them,  every  one  striving  to  have  the  best.  This 
was  done  uppon  this  consideration,  that  they  should  be  allwayes  under 
our  protection,  giving  them  wherewithall  to  make  them  merry  & 
remember  us  when  they  should  be  men. 

This  done,  we  are  called  to  the  Councell  of  welcome  and  to  the 
feast  of  ffriendshipp,  afterwards  to  the  dancing  of  the  heads;  but  be- 
fore the  dancing  we  must  mourne  for  the  deceased,  and  then,  for  to 
forgett  all  sorrow,  to  the  dance.  We  gave  them  foure  small  guifts 
that  they  should  continue  such  ceremonyes,  which  they  tooke  willingly 
and  did  us  good,  that  gave  us  authority  among  the  whole  nation.  We 


GROSEILLIEKS   AND   KADISSOK  165 

knewed  their  councels,  and  made  them  doe  whatsoever  we  thought 
best.  This  was  a  great  advantage  for  us,  you  must  think.  Amongst 
such  a  rovvish  kind  of  people  a  guift  is  much,  and  well  bestowed,  and 
liberality  much  esteemed;  but  not  prodigalitie  is  not  in  esteeme,  for 
they  abuse  it,  being  brutish.  Wee  have  ben  useing  such  ceremonyes 
3  whole  dayes,  &  weare  lodged  in  the  cabban  of  the  chiefest  captayne, 
who  came  with  us  from  the  ffrench.  We  liked  not  the  company  of 
that  blind,  therefore  left  him.  He  wondred  at  this,  but  durst  not 
speake,  because  we  weare  demi-gods.  We  came  to  the  cottage  of  an 
ancient  witty  man,  that  had  had  a  great  familie  and  many  children, 
his  wife  old,  neverthelesse  handsome.  They  weare  of  a  nation  called 
Malhonmines;  that  is,  the  nation  of  Oats,  graine  that  is  much  in  that 
countrey.  Of  this  afterwards  more  att  large.  I  tooke  this  man  for 
my  ffather  and  the  woman  for  my  mother,  soe  the  children  conse- 
quently brothers  and  sisters.  They  adopted  me.  I  gave  every  one  a 
guift,  and  they  to  mee. 

STAHVATIOX  IN  WINTEK. 

Large  numbers  of  the  Huron  and  Ottawa  exiles,  flying  be- 
fore the  Iroquois  and  seeking  refuge  first  in  the  country  of  the 
Illinois  and  later  on  Prairie  island,  had,  within  the  three  years 
since  the  first  western  expedition  of  Groseilliers  and  Kadis- 
son,  been  driven  from  that  island  by  new  enemies,  the  fierce 
Sioux  of  the  neighboring  forest  and  prairie  country  on  the 
north  and  west,  and  had  again  removed,  following  the  Chippewa 
river  of  Wisconsin  to  its  sources,  or,  more  probably,  coming  there 
by  the  equally  direct  route  of  the  St.  Croix  river.  Perrot,  in 
his  Memoir,  states  that  the  Hurons  and  Ottawas,  after  leav- 
ing Prairie  island  went  up  the  Black  river  to  its  source,  and 
that  there  the  Hurons  established  for  themselves  a  fortified  vil- 
lage, while  the  Ottawas  advanced  to  Chequamegon  bay.  Perhaps 
the  Black  river  was  the  route  of  the  Ottawas;  but  the  Hurons  ap- 
pear to  have  taken  a  northward  course  from  Prairie  island,  as- 
cending the  St.  Croix.  Eadisson's  narrative  certainly  shows  that 
the  main  settlement  of  the  Hurons  in  1659  was  considerably 
north  of  the  source  of  Black  river,  being  instead  on  the  head- 
waters of  the  Chippewa,  according  to  Father  Verwyst,  in  the 
vicinity  of  Lac  Courte  Oreille  and  the  numerous  other  lakes 
south  and  east  of  Hay  ward  in  Sawyer  county,  Wisconsin.  The 


166  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 

acquaintance  of  the  Hurons  with  a  proposed  rendezvous  in  the 
country  of  the  Sioux,  west  of  the  St.  Croix,  implies  that  in 
their  journeying  northward  many  of  their  people  had  seen  the 
place  which  was  thus  selected  for  their  meeting  in  the  midwinter. 
The  march  from  Chequamegon  bay,  "four  days  through  the 
woods,"  arriving  at  the  chief  Huron  village  on  a  lake  "some 
eight  leagues  in  circuit,"  agrees  very  well  with  Terwyst's  identifi- 
er tion  of  their  locality. 

In  that  wooded  country,  to  which  the  Hurons  had  come 
so  very  recently,  little  had  been  done  in  raising  corn.  The 
poor  fugitives  had  no  Groseilliers  during  the  preceding  summer 
to  urge  the  necessity  of  providing  corn  for  their  chief  subsis- 
tence through  the  long,  cold  winter,  when  game  and  fish  might 
be  scarce.  If  any  reader  has  thought  that  Longfellow  in  the 
most  American  poem  of  all  our  literature,  "The  Song  of  Hia- 
watha," overdrew  the  horror  of  famine  and  starvation  which 
sometimes  befall  the  Indians  in  winter,  let  him  listen  to  Radis- 
son's  pathetic  narration. 

Having  so  disposed  of  our  buissinesse,  the  winter  conies  on,  that 
warns  us;  the  snow  begins  to  fall,  soe  we  must  retire  from  the  place 
to  seeke  our  living  in  the  woods.  Every  one  getts  his  equipage  ready. 
So  away  we  goe,  but  not  all  to  the  same  place;  two,  three  att  the  most, 
went  one  way,  and  so  of  an  other.  They  have  so  done  because  victuals 
weare  scant  for  all  in  a  place.  But  lett  us  where  we  will,  we  cannot 
escape  the  myghty  hand  of  God,  that  disposes  as  he  pleases,  and  who 
chastes  us  as  a  good  &  a  common  loving  ffather,  and  not  as  our  sins 
doe  deserve.  Finaly  wee  depart  one  from  an  other.  As  many  as  we 
weare  in  number,  we  are  reduced  to  a  small  company.  We  appointed 
a  rendezvous  after  two  months  and  a  half,  to  take  a  new  road  &  an 
advice  what  we  should  doe.  During  the  said  terme  we  sent  messengers 
everywhere,  to  give  speciall  notice  to  all  manner  of  persons  and  na- 
tion that  within  5  moons  the  feast  of  death  was  to  be  celebrated,  and 
that  we  should  apeare  together  and  explain  e  what  the  devill  should 
command  us  to  say,  and  then  present  them  presents  of  peace  and 
union.  Now  we  must  live  on  what  God  sends,  and  warre  against  the 
bears  in  the  meane  time,  for  we  could  aime  att  nothing  else,  which 
was  the  cause  that  we  had  no  great  cheare.  *  *  *  We  beated 
downe  the  woods  dayly  for  to  discover  novelties.  We  killed  severall 
other  beasts,  as  Oriniacks,  staggs,  wild  cows,  Carriboucks,  fallow  does 
and  bucks,  Catts  of  mountains,  child  of  the  Devill;  in  a  word,  we  lead 


GROSEILLIERS   AKD  EADISSOX.  167 

a  good  life.  The  snow  increases  dayly.  There  we  make  raketts,  not 
to  play  att  ball,  but  to  exercise  ourselves  in  a  game  harder  and 
more  necessary.  They  are  broad,  made  like  racketts,  that  they  may 
goe  in  the  snow  and  not  sinke  when  they  runne  after  the  eland  or  other 
beast. 

We  are  come  to  the  small  lake,  the  place  of  rendezvous,  where  we 
found  some  company  that  weare  there  before  us.  We  cottage  our- 
selves, staying  for  the  rest,  that  come  every  day.  We  stayed  14  dayes 
in  this  place  most  miserable,  like  to  a  churchyard;  ffor  there  did  fall 
such  a  quantity  of  snow  and  frost,  and  with  such  a  thick  mist,  that 
all  the  snow  stoocke  to  these  trees  that  are  there  so  ruffe,  being  deal 
trees,  prusse  cedars,  and  thorns,  that  caused  that  darknesse  uppon  the 
earth  that  it  is  to  be  believed  that  the  sun  was  eclipsed  them  2  months; 
ffor  after  the  trees  weare  so  laden  with  snow  that  fel'd  afterwards, 
vas  as  if  it  had  been  sifted,  so  by  that  means  very  light  and  not  able 
to  beare  us:  albeit  we  made  racketts  of  6  foot  long  and  a  foot  and  a 
halfe  broad;  so  often  thinking  to  tourne  ourselves  we  felld  over  and 
over  againe  in  the  snow,  and  if  we  weare  alone  we  should  have  difficul- 
tie  enough  to  rise  againe.  By  the  noyse  we  made,  the  Beasts  heard  us 
a  great  way  off;  so  the  famine  was  among  great  many  that  had  not 
provided  before  hand,  and  live  upon  what  they  gett  that  day,  never 
thinking  for  the  next.  It  grows  wors  and  wors  dayly. 

To  augment  our  misery  we  receive  news  of  the  Octanaks,  who 
weare  about  a  hundred  and  fifty,  with  their  families.  They  had  a 
quarrell  with  the  hurrons  in  the  Isle  where  we  had  come  from  some 
years  before  in  the  lake  of  the  stairing  hairs  [Bois  Blanc  island,  as 
identified  by  Campbell,  in  lake  Huron],  and  came  purposely  to  make 
warres  against  them  the  next  summer.  But  lett  us  see  if  they  brought 
us  anything  to  subsist  withall.  But  are  worst  provided  then  we; 
having  no  huntsmen,  they  are  reduced  to  famine.  But,  0  cursed  covet- 
ousnesse,  what  art  thou  going  to  doe?  It  should  be  farr  better  to 
see  a  company  of  Rogues  perish  then  see  ourselves  in  danger  to  perish 
by  that  scourg  so  cruell.  Hearing  that  they  have  had  knives  and 
hattchetts,  the  victualls  of  their  poore  children  is  taken  away  from 
them;  yea,  whatever  they  have,  those  dogs  must  have  their  share. 
They  are  the  coursedest,  unablest,  the  unfamous  &  cowarliest  people 
that  I  have  seene  amongst  fower  score  nations  that  I  have  frequented. 
O  yee  poore  people,  you  shall  have  their  booty,  but  you  shall  pay  dearly 
for  it!  Every  one  cryes  out  for  hungar;  the  women  become  baren. 
and  drie  like  wood.  You  men  must  eate  the  cord,  being  you  have  no 
more  strength  to  make  use  of  the  bow.  Children,  you  must  die. 
ffrench,  you  called  yourselves  Gods  of  the  earth,  that  you  should 
be  feared,  for  your  interest;  notwithstanding  you  shall  tast  of  the 
bitternesse,  and  too  happy  if  you  escape.  *  *  *  Oh!  if  the  musick 
that  we  heare  could  give  us  recreation,  we  wanted  not  any  lamentable 


168  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 

musick  nor  sad  spectacle.  In  the  morning  the  husband  looks  uppon  his 
wife,  the  Brother  his  sister,  the  cozen  the  cozen,  the  Oncle  the  nevew, 
that  weare  for  the  most  part  found  deade.  They  languish  with  cryes 
&  hideous  noise  that  it  was  able  to  make  the  haire  starre  on  the  heads 
that  have  any  apprehension.  Good  God,  have  mercy  on  so  many  poore 
innocent  people,  and  of  us  that  acknowledge  thee,  that  having  offended 
thee  punishes  us.  But  wee  are  not  free  of  that  cruell  Executioner. 
Those  that  have  any  life  seeketh  out  for  roots,  which  could  not  be 
done  without  great  difficultie,  the  earth  being  frozen  2  or  3  foote 
deepe,  and  the  snow  5  or  6  above  it.  The  greatest  susibstance  that 
we  can  have  is  of  rind  tree  which  growes  like  ivie  about  the  trees; 
but  to  swallow  it,  we  cutt  the  stick  some  2  foot  long,  tying  it  in 
faggott,  and  boyle  it,  and  when  it  boyles  one  houre  or  two  the  rind 
or  skinne  comes  off  with  ease,  which  we  take  and  drie  it  in  the 
smoake  and  then  reduce  it  into  powder  betwixt  two  graine-stoans,  and 
putting  the  kettle  with  the  same  watter  uppon  the  fire,  we  make  a 
kind  of  broath,  which  nourished  us,  but  becam  thirstier  and  drier 
then  the  woode  we  eate. 

The  2  first  weeke  we  did  eate  our  doggs  *  *  *  in  the  next 
place,  the  skins  that  weare  reserved  to  make  us  shoose,  cloath,  and 
stokins,  yea,  most  of  the  skins  of  our  cottages,  the  castors'  skins 
*  *  We  burned  the  haire  on  the  coals;  the  rest  goes  down 
throats,  eating  heartily  these  things  most  abhorred.  We  went  so 
eagerly  to  it  that  our  gumms  did  bleede  like  one  newly  wounded.  The 
wood  was  our  food  the  rest  of  the  sorrowfull  time.  Finaly  we  became 
the  very  Image  of  death.  We  mistook  ourselves  very  often,  taking 
the  living  for  the  dead  and  the  dead  for  the  living.  We  wanted 
strength  to  draw  the  living  out  of  the  cabans,  or  if  we  did  when  we 
could,  it  was  to  putt  them  four  paces  in  the  snow.  Att  the  end  the 
wrath  of  God  begins  to  appease  itselfe,  and  pityes  his  poore  creatures. 
If  I  should  expresse  all  that  befell  us  in  that  strange  accidents,  a  great 
volume  would  not  containe  it.  Here  are  above  500  dead,  men,  women, 
and  children.  It's  time  to  come  out  of  such  miseryes.  Our  bodies 
are  not  able  to  hold  out  any  further. 

After  the  storme,  calme  comes.  But  stormes  favoured  us,  being 
that  calme  kills  us.  Here  comes  a  wind  and  raine  that  putts  a  new 
life  in  us.  The  snow  falls,  the  forest  cleers  itselfe,  att  which  sight 
those  that  had  strings  left  in  their  bowes  takes  courage  to  use  it. 
The  weather  continued  so  3  dayes  that  we  needed  no  racketts  more, 
for  the  snow  hardened  much.  The  small  staggs  are  [as]  if  they  weare 
stakes  in  it  after  they  made  7  or  8  capers.  It's  an  easy  matter  for  us 
to  take  them  and  cutt  their  throats  with  our  knives.  Now  we  see 
ourselves  a  little  fournished,  but  yett  have  not  payed,  ffor  it  coet 
many  their  lives.  Our  gutts  became  very  straight  by  our  long  fasting, 
that  they  could  not  containe  the  quantity  that  some  putt  in  them. 


GEOSEILLIEES   AND  EADISSON.  169 

I  cannot  omitt  the  pleasant  thoughts  of  some  of  them  wildmen.  See- 
ing my  brother  allwayes  in  the  same  condition,  they  said  that  some 
Devill  brought  him  wherewithall  to  eate;  but  if  they  had  seen  his 
body  they  should  be  of  another  opinion.  The  beard  that  covered  his 
face  made  as  if  he  Jiad  not  altered  his  face.  For  me  that  had  no 
beard,  they  said  I  loved  them,  because  I  lived  as  well  as  they.  From 
the  second  day  we  began  to  walke. 

There  came  2  men  from  a  strange  countrey  who  had  a  dogg;  the 
buissinesse  was  how  to  catch  him  cunningly,  knowing  well  those  people 
love  their  beasts.  Xeverthelesse  wee  offred  guifts,  but  they  would  not, 
which  made  me  stubborne.  That  dogge  was  very  leane,  and  as  hungry 
as  we  weare,  but  the  masters  have  not  suffered  so  much.  I  went 
one  night  neere  that  same  cottage  to  doe  what  discretion  permitts  me 
not  to  speake.  Those  men  weare  Nadoneseronons.  They  weare  much 
respected  that  nobody  durst  not  offend  them,  being  that  we  weare  uppon 
their  land  with  their  leave.  The  dogg  comes  out,  not  by  any  smell, 
but  by  good  like.  I  take  him  and  bring  him  a  litle  way.  I  stabbed 
him  with  my  dagger.  I  brought  him  to  the  cottage,  where  [he]  was 
broyled  like  a  pigge  and  cutt  in  pecces,  gutts  and  all,  soe  every  one 
of  the  family  had  his  share.  The  snow  where  he  was  killed  was  not 
lost;  ffor  one  of  our  company  went  and  gott  it  to  season  the  kettles. 
We  began  to  looke  better  dayly.  We  gave  the  rendezvous  to  the  con- 
venientest  place  to  celebrat  that  great  feast. 

The  narrative  shows  that  the  winter  began  while  Groseilliers 
and  Eadisson  were  guests,  as  we  may  say,  of  the  Huron  and 
Menominee  Indians,  probably  at  Lac  Courte  Oreille,  near  Hay- 
ward,  Wisconsin.  The  first  snowfall  and  the  ensuing  separa- 
tion of  the  Indians  into  parties  of  two  or  three  for  procuring 
sustenance  by  hunting,  took  place,  as  we  must  suppose,  in  the 
later  part  of  October  or  early  November,  1659.  Two  months  and 
a  half  later,  that  is,  at  some  time  shortly  after  New  Year's  day 
of  1660,  they  came  together  at  a  "small  lake,  the  place  of 
rendezvous." 

This  place  was  in  the  country  of  the  Sioux,  as  Eadisson 
tells  us;  and  apparently  from  its  vicinity,  as  he  also  says  later, 
Groseilliers  and  Eadisson  went  in  seven  days'  travel  to  visit 
the  prairie  Sioux.  To  meet  these  conditions,  I  think  that  the 
appointed  rendezvous,  where  severe  famine  prevailed,  was  at 
or  not  far  distant  from  Knife  lake,  in  Kanabec  county,  Min- 
nesota, about  fifteen  miles  southeast  from  Mille  Lacs.  Knife  lake 


170  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 

derived  its  name,  as  shown  by  the  late  Hon.  J.  V.  Brower  (in 
Kathio,  1901,  page  43),  from  the  first  acquirement  of  steel 
knives  there  by  the  Isanti  or  Knife  Sioux,  probably  at  this  time 
in  their  dealings  with  Groseilliers  and  Radisson  and  with  the 
Hurons  and  Ottawas  of  their  company.  It  is  about  ninety 
miles  west  of  Lac  Courte  Oreille,  and  all  the  intervening  country 
was  good  hunting  ground,  probably  then,  as  later,  a  neutral 
and  usually  uninhabited  tract,  between  the  Sioux  and  their  east- 
(•rn  neighbors.  From  Knife  lake  southwestward  to  the  broad 
prairie  region  of  the  Minnesota  river,  where  the  prairie  Sioux 
(the  Tintonwans)  lived,  is  only  a  hundred  and  twenty-five  miles 
in  a  straight  line,  or  somewhat  farther,  about  seven  days'  travel 
by  canoeing,  or  by  a  land  march  late  in  winter,  down  the  St. 
Croix  or  the  Rum  river  to  the  Mississippi  and  up  the  Minnesota 
river.  If,  as  is  here  supposed,  Knife  lake  was  the  rendezvous, 
it  was  previously  known  and  had  been  visited  by  these  Hurons, 
which  they  might  have  done  in  connection  with  their  journey 
from  Prairie  island  up  the  St.  Croix  to  the  lakes  in  northwestern 
Wisconsin. 

After  the  Indians  had  gathered  at  the  rendezvous,  little 
game  could  be  captured,  the  snow  being  five  or  six  feet  deep, 
for  the  subsistence  of  the  large  company,  who  numbered  pro- 
bably a  thousand  or  more.  During  two  weeks  a  most  direful 
famine  prevailed,  which  was  made  worse  by  the  arrival  of  about 
a  hundred  and  fifty  Ottawas  with  their  families.  Though 
these  Indians  brought  little  or  no  food,  and  were  themselves 
starving  before  their  arrival,  they  received  a  share  of  the  scanty 
provisions  and  game  of  the  Hurons,  to  whom  they  bartered 
the  highly  valued  iron  and  steel  knives  and  hatchets  which  they 
had  obtained  in  trade  from  the  French.  With  the  assemblage 
thus  increased  to  a  total  of  probably  fifteen  hundred  men,  women 
and  children,  terrible  starvation  followed.  They  were  obliged 
even  to  make  a  thin  soup  from  their  beaver  skins.  The  "greatest 
subsistence,"  however,  which  was  known  to  these  Indians  for  such 
times  of  starvation  was  a  broth  or  soup  made  from  boiled, 
smoked,  and  powdered  bark  of  a  "rind  tree  which  grows  like  ivie 
about  the  trees/'  evidently  the  climbing  bittersweet  (Celastrus 


GROSEILLIERS   AND   RADISSON.  171 

scandens,  L.).  This  shrub,  climbing  around  the  trunks  of  trees, 
is  common  in  woodlands  throughout  Wisconsin  and  Minnesota, 
excepting  the  extreme  northern  part  of  this  state,  north  and 
northwest  of  Lake  Superior.  In  these  dreadful  straits  of  famine 
more  than  five  hundred  died,  as  Radisson  tells  us;  and  he  and 
his  brother-in-law  only  narrowly  escaped  from  death. 

DEALINGS  WITH  THE  SIOUX  AND  THE  CREES. 

Continuing  his  narration,  Radisson  gives  a  very  interesting 
account  of  a  visit  by  eight  men  of  the  Sioux,  probably  of  the 
Isanti  tribe  living  around  Mille  Lacs,  and  sixteen  women  bearing 
gifts,  who  came  to  Groseilliers  and  himself  while  they  were 
still  living  apparently  with  the  Hurons  in  the  vicinity  of  Knife 
lake.  This  very  remarkable  visit  and  its  ceremonies  with  gifts, 
between  the  Sioux  and  the  French  traders,  became  probably  the 
origin  of  the  names  Knife  lake  and  river,  and  of  this  Isanti 
or  Knife  branch  of  the  great  Sioux  nation  or  group  of  'many 
tribes. 

The  time  of  the  visit  of  these  twenty-four  Sioux  is  stated 
to  have  been  "some  two  moons"  after  the  famine;  and  again  it 
is  said  that  the  grain  brought  by  the  visitors  would  have  been  wel- 
come a  month  or  two  earlier.  Accordingly  we  must  consider  the 
date  of  the  visit  and  eight  days  of  feasting  with  the  Sioux  to 
have  been  in  the  first  half  of  March,  or  about  then,  ending  near 
the  middle  of  this  month,  in  1660.  So  many  other  proceed- 
ings are  told,  with  allowances  of  time,  for  the  latter  part  of  the 
cold  season,  before  the  ice  wholly  disappeared  from  the  west 
end  of  Lake  Superior,  that  it  is  necessary  to  assign  as  short  es- 
timates of  time  throughout  as  seen  compatible  with  the  succes- 
sive parts  of  the  narrative.  This  part  runs  as  follows: 

Some  2  moons  after  there  came  8  ambassadors  from  the  nation  of 
Nadoneseronons,  that  we  will  call  now  the  Nation  of  the  beefe.  Those 
men  each  had  2  wives,  leadened  of  Oats,  corne  [wild  rice]  that  growes 
in  that  countrey,  of  a  small  quantity  of  Indian  corne,  with  other 
grains,  &  it  was  a  present  to  us,  which  we  received  as  a  great  favour 
&  token  of  f riendshippe ;  but  it  had  been  welcome  if  they  had  brought 
it  a  month  or  two  before.  They  made  great  ceremonys  in  greasing 


172  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTUEIES. 

our  feete  and  leggs,  and  we  painted  them  with  red.  They  stript  us 
jinked  and  putt  upon  us  cloath  of  buffe  and  of  white  castors.  After 
ihi^  they  weeped  uppon  our  heads  until  we  weare  wetted  by  their 
tears,  and  made  us  smoake  in  their  pipes  after  they  kindled  them. 
It  was  not  in  common  pipes,  but  in  pipes  of  peace  and  of  the  warrs, 
that  they  pull  out  but  very  seldom,  when  there  is  occasion  for  heaven 
and  earth.  This  done,  they  perfumed  our  cloaths  and  armour  one 
after  another,  and  to  conclude  did  throw  a  great  quantity  of  tobbacco 
into  the  fire.  We  told  them  that  they  prevented  us,  for  letting  us 
know  that  all  persons  of  their  nation  came  to  visite  us,  that  we  might 
dispose  of  them. 

The  next  morning  they  weare  called  by  our  Interpreter.  We  un- 
derstood not  a  word  of  their  language,  being  quit  contrary  to  those 
that  we  weare  with.  They  are  arrived,  they  satt  downe.  We  made  a 
place  for  us  more  elevated,  to  be  more  att  our  ease  &  to  appeare  in 
more  state.  We  borrowed  their  Calumet,  saying  that  we  are  in  their 
countrey,  and  that  it  was  not  lawfull  for  us  to  carry  anything  out  of 
our  countrey.  That  pipe  is  of  a  red  stone,  as  bigge  as  a  fist  and  as 
long  as  a  hand.  The  small  reede  as  long  as  five  foot,  in  breadth,  and 
of  the  thicknesse  of  a  thumb.  There  is  tyed  to  it  the  tayle  of  an 
eagle  all  painted  over  with  severall  coulours  and  open  like  a  fan,  or 
like  that  which  makes  a  kind  of  a  wheele  when  he  shuts;  below  the 
toppe  of  the  steeke  is  covered  with  feathers  of  ducks  and  other  birds 
that  are  of  a  fine  collour.  We  tooke  the  tayle  of  the  eagle,  and  in- 
stead of  it  we  hung  12  Iron  bows  in  the  same  manner  as  the  feathert 
weare,  and  a  blade  about  it  along  the  staffe,  a  hattchett  planted  in 
the  ground,  and  that  calumet  over  it,  and  all  our  armours  about  it 
uppon  forks.  Every  one  smoaked  his  pipe  of  tobacco,  nor  they  never 
goe  without  it.  During  that  while  there  was  a  great  silence.  We  pre- 
pared some  powder  that  was  litle  wetted,  and  the  good  powder  %v;is 
precious  to  us.  Our  Interpreter  told  them  in  our  name,  "Brethren,  we 
have  accepted  of  your  guifts.  Yee  are  called  here  to  know  our  will 
and  pleasur  that  is  such:  first,  we  take  you  for  our  brethren  by 
taking  you  into  our  protection,  and  for  to  shew  you,  we,  instead  of 
the  eagles'  tayle,  have  putt  some  of  our  armours,  to  the  end  that  no 
ennemy  shall  approach  it  to  breake  the  affinitie  that  we  make  now  with 
you."  Then  we  tooke  the  12  Iron  off  the  bowes  and  lift  them  up, 
telling  them  those  points  shall  passe  over  the  whole  world  to  defend 
and  destroy  your  ennemyes,  that  are  ours.  Then  we  putt  the  Irons 
in  the  same  place  againe.  Then  we  tooke  the  sword  and  bad  them 
have  good  courage,  that  by  our  means  they  should  vanquish  their 
Ennemy.  After  we  tooke  the  hattchett  that  was  planted  in  the  ground, 
we  tourned  round  about,  telling  them  that  we  should  kill  those  that 
would  warre  against  them,  and  that  we  would  make  forts  that  they 
should  come  with  more  assurance  to  the  feast  of  the  dead.  That  done, 


GROSEILLIERS   AND  KADISSON.  173 

we  throw  powder  in  the  fire,  that  had  more  strenght  then  we  thought; 
it  made  the  brands  fly  from  one  side  to  the  other.  We  intended  to 
make  them  believe  that  it  was  some  of  our  Tobacco,  and  make  them 
smoake  as  they  made  us  smoake.  But  hearing  such  a  noise,  and  they 
seeing  that  fire  fled  of  every  side,  without  any  further  delay  or  looke 
for  so  much  time  as  looke  for  the  dore  of  the  cottage,  one  runne  one 
way,  another  an  other  way,  ffor  they  never  saw  a  sacrifice  of  tobacco 
so  violent.  They  went  all  away,  and  we  onely  stayed  in  the  place. 
We  followed  them  to  reassure  them  of  their  faint  ings.  We  visited 
them  in  their  appartments,  where  they  received  [us]  all  trembling  for 
feare,  believing  realy  by  that  same  meanes  that  we  weare  the  Devils 
of  the  earth.  There  was  nothing  but  feasting  for  8  dayes. 

Soon  after  the  earliest  snowfall  in  the  autumn  Groseilliers 
and  Eadisson  had  "sent  messengers  everywhere"  among  the 
Dakota  or  Siouan  tribes,  inviting  them  to  meet  for  a  great  cele- 
bration of  a  ceremonial  feast  within  five  months,  that  is, 
at  the  opening  of  spring,  when  the  French  traders  would  give 
"presents  of  peace  and  union."  At  the  rendezvous  for  the  mid- 
winter, supposed  to  be  Knife  lake,  two  Sioux  had  come  to 
Groseilliers,  Eadisson,  and  the  Hurons,  in  the  temporary  en- 
campment, before  the  end  of  the  time  of  famine;  and  to  these 
Sioux  envoys  they  had  given  "the  rendezvous  to  the  convenientest 
place  to  celebrate  that  great  feast."  The  later  coming  of  the 
eight  men  and  sixteen  women  of  the  Sioux  was  a  preliminary  of 
the  convention  of  delegations  from  all  the  Sioux  tribes,  called 
by  Radisson  "eighteen  several  nations,"  for  the  feast  and  parades 
to  which  they  had  been  looking  forward,  with  elaborate  prepara- 
tions and  training,  through  all  the  winter. 

The  French  traders  designed,  on  their  part,  to  make  this 
celebration  of  feasting  and  spectacular  exhibitions  an  occasion 
long  to  be  remembered  by  all  these  Indians  as  the  first  time 
when  they  were  witnesses  of  the  superiority  of  the  French, 
with,  their  firearms,  iron  kettles,  steel  hatchets  and  knives,  awls 
and  needles,  glass  and  tin-plated  ornaments,  etc.  It  was  to  be 
the  beginning  of  a  profitable  fur  trade  for  themselves,  and 
for  their  successors  during  the  future  years.  Prestige  for  France 
in  her  expected  sway  over  these  savage  tribes  was  here  to  be 
established,  somewhat  as  Jean  Nicolet  twenty-five  years  before 


174  MINNESOTA   !X  TJilJEK  CENTUBIBS. 

had  won  the  admiration,  confidence,  and  commercial  allegiance 
of  the  Winnebago  Indians  in  eastern  Wisconsin. 

Some  small  tract  of  prairie,  or  of  land  cleared  for  culti- 
vation, in  the  midst  of  the  generally  wooded  country  sur- 
rounding the  former  rendezvous,  which  we  have  identified  as 
near  Knife  Lake,  was  chosen  by  Groseilliers  and  Radisson, 
with  their  two  Sioux  visitors  in  January,  to  be  the  scene  of 
the  grand  celebration  in  the  spring.  There  a  large  area  was 
paced  out  and  was  called  a  fort,  where  the  tepees  of  the  en- 
camping Sioux  could  be  seen  from  a  long  distance  as  they  were 
approached  across  a  meadow  that  extended  along  the  course 
of  a  brook  "more  than  four  leagues." 

After  a  few  days  of  ceremonies,  speech-making,  feasting, 
and  bestowal  of  gifts,  it  was  decided  to  invite  also  the  Crees, 
of  whom  a  large  party  were  known  to  be  encamped  at  the  dis- 
tance of  two  days'  journey  northward.  About  fifty  of  the  In- 
dians, and  Eadisson  with  them,  went  therefore  to  this  temporary 
Cree  village,  to  extend  the  invitation,  and  meanwhile  many  In- 
dians from  all  over  the  region  flocked  to  the  place  of  the  grand 
celebration  to  see  "those  two  redoubted  nations"  meet  for  friendly 
rivalry  in  feats  of  strength,  agility,  and  skill,  and  in  dancing  and 
music. 

Probably  about  three  weeks  were  occupied  in  the  various 
ceremonies  and  festivities,  from  the  time  when  the  representatives 
of  eighteen  tribes  of  the  Sioux  first  arrived,  until  the  close  of  the 
feast,  when  "every  one  returns  to  his  country  well  satisfied." 
The  whole  celebration  thus  extended,  we  may  think,  approximate- 
ly from  the  middle  of  March  to  the  first  week  of  April.  It  was 
a  very  great  event  for  the  Sioux,  who  then,  in  their  many  tribes 
and  bands,  inhabited  the  greater  part  of  the  present  state  of 
Minnesota.  Its  story  is  appreciatively  told  by  Radisson  as  fol- 
lows, continuing  directly  from  our  last  foregoing  quotation: 

The  time  was  now  nigh  that  we  must  goe  to  the  rendezvous;  this 
was  betwixt  a  small  lake  and  a  medow.  Being  arrived,  most  of  ours 
[the  Hurons]  weare  allready  in  their  cottages.  In  3  dayes'  time 
there  arrived  eighten  severall  nations,  and  came  privatly,  to  have  done 
the  sooner.  As  we  became  to  the  number  of  500,  we  held  a  councell. 
Then  the  shouts  and  cryes  and  the  encouragements  weare  proclaimed, 


GROSEILLIEES   AXD   RADISSOX.  175 

that  a  fort  should  be  builded.  They  went  about  the  worke  and  made 
a  large  fort.  It  was  about  603  score  paces  in  lenght  and  600  in  breadth, 
so  that  it  was  a  square.  There  we  had  a  brooke  that  came  from 
the  lake  and  emptied  itselfe  in  those  medows,  which  had  more  then 
foure  leagues  in  lenght.  Our  fort  might  be  seene  afar  off,  and  on 
that  side  most  delightfull,  for  the  great  many  stagges  that  tooke 
the  boldnesse  to  be  carried  by  quarters  where  att  other  times  they 
made  good  cheare. 

In  two  dayes  this  was  finished.  Soon  30  yong  men  of  the  nation 
of  the  beefe  arrived  there,  having  nothing  but  bows  and  arrows,  with 
very  short  garments,  to  be  the  nimbler  in  chasing  the  stagges.  The 
Iron  of  their  arrows  weare  made  of  staggs'  pointed  horns  very  neatly. 
They  weare  all  proper  men,  and  dressed  with  paint.  They  weare  the 
discoverers  and  the  foreguard.  We  kept  a  round  place  in  the  midle 
of  our  Cabban  and  covered  it  with  long  poles  with  skins  over  them, 
that  we  might  have  a  shelter  to  keepe  us  from  the  snow.  The  cottages 
weare  all  in  good  order;  in  each  10,  twelve  companies  or  families. 
That  company  was  brought  to  that  place  .where  there  was  wood  layd 
for  the  fires.  The  snow  was  taken  away,  and  the  earth  covered  with 
deale  tree  bows.  Severall  kettles  weare  brought  there  full  of  meate. 
They  rested  and  eat  above  5  houres  without  speaking  one  to  another. 
The  considerablest  of  our  companyes  went  and  made  speeches  to  them. 
After  one  takes  his  bow  and  shoots  an  arrow,  and  then  cryes  aloud, 
there  speaks  some  few  words,  saying  that  they  weare  to  lett  them 
know  the  Elders  of  their  village  weare  to  come  the  morrow  to  renew 
the  friendship  and  to  make  it  with  the  ffrench,  and  that  a  great  many 
of  their  yong  people  came  and  brought  them  some  part  of  their  waves 
to  take  their  advice,  ffor  they  had  a  minde  to  goe  against  the  Christ- 
inos,  who  weare  ready  for  them,  and  they  in  like  manner  to  save 
their  wives  &  children.  They  weare  scattered  in  many  Cabbans  that 
night,  expecting  those  that  weare  to  come.  To  that  purpose  there  was 
a  vast  large  place  prepared  some  hundred  paces  from  the  fort,  where 
everything  was  ready  for  the  receiving  of  those  persons.  They  weare 
to  sett  their  tents,  that  they  bring  uppon  their  backs.  The  pearches 
were  putt  out  and  planted  as  we  received  the  news;  the  snow  putt 
aside,  and  the  boughs  of  trees  covered  the  ground. 

The  day  following  they  arrived  with  an  incredible  pomp.  This 
made  me  thinke  of  the  Intrance  that  the  Polanders  did  in  Paris,  saving 
that  they  had  not  so  many  Jewells,  but  instead  of  them  they  had  so 
many  feathers.  The  ffirst  weare  yong  people  with  their  bows  and  ar- 
rows and  Buckler  on  their  shoulders,  uppon  which  weare  represented 
all  manner  of  figures,  according  to  their  knowledge,  as  of  the  sun  and 
moone,  of  terrestriall  beasts,  about  its  feathers  very  artificialy  painted. 
Most  of  the  men  their  faces  weare  all  over  dabbed  with  severall  col- 
lours.  Their  hair  turned  up  like  a  Crowne,  and  weare  cutt  very 


176  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 

even,  but  rather  so  burned,  for  the  fire  is  their  cicers.  They  leave 
a  tuff  of  haire  upon  their  Crowne  of  their  heads,  tye  it,  and  putt  att 
the  end  of  it  some  small  pearles  or  some  Turkey  stones  [turquoise], 
to  bind  their  heads.  They  have  a  role  commonly  made  of  a  snake's 
skin,  where  they  tye  severall  bears'  paws,  or  give  a  forme  to  some  bitts 
of  buffs'  horns,  and  put  it  about  the  said  role.  They  grease  themselves 
with  very  thick  grease,  &  mingle  it  in  reddish  earth,  which  they 
bourne,  as  we  our  breeks.  With  this  stuffe  they  gett  their  haire  to 
stand  up.  They  cutt  some  downe  of  Swan  or  other  fowle  that  hath  a 
white  feather,  and  cover  with  it  the  crowne  of  their  heads.  Their 
ears  are  pierced  in  5  places;  the  holes  are  so  bigg  that  your  little 
finger  might  pass  through.  They  have  yallow  waire  that  they  make 
with  copper,  made  like  a  starr  or  a  half  moone,  &  there  hang  it. 
Many  have  Turkeys  [turquoises].  They  are  cloathed  with  Oriniack 
&  staggs'  skins,  but  very  light.  Every  one  had  the  skin  of  a  crow 
hanging  att  their  girdles.  Their  stokens  all  imbrodered  with  pearles 
and  with  their  own  porke-pick  worke.  They  have  very  handsome 
shoose  laced  very  thick  all  over  with  a  peece  sowen  att  the  side  of 
the  heele,  which  was  of  a  haire  of  Buff,  which  trailed  above  halfe 
a  foot  upon  the  earth,  or  rather  on  the  snow.  They  had  swords  and 
knives  of  a  foot  and  a  halfe  long,  and  hattchetts  very  ingeniously 
done,  and  clubbs  of  wood  made  like  backswords;  some  made  of  a 
round  head  that  I  admired  it.  When  they  kille  their  ennemy  they  cutt 
off  the  tuffe  of  haire  and  tye  it  about  their  armes.  After  all,  they 
have  a  white  robe  made  of  Castors'  skins  painted.  Those  having  passed 
through  the  midle  of  ours,  that  weare  ranged  att  every  side  of  the 
way.  The  Elders  came  with  great  gravitie  and  modestie,  covered  with 
buff  coats  which  hung  downe  to  the  grounde.  Every  one  had  in  his 
hand  a  pipe  of  Councell  sett  with  precious  Jewells.  They  had  a  sack 
on  their  shoulders,  and  that  that  holds  it  grows  in  the  midle  of  their 
stomacks  and  on  their  shoulders.  In  this  sacke  all  the  world  is  in- 
closed. Their  face  is  not  painted,  but  their  heads  dressed  as  the  fore- 
most. Then  the  women  laden  like  unto  so  many  mules,  their  burdens 
made  a  greater  shew  then  they  themselves;  but  I  supose  the  weight 
was  not  equipolent  to  its  bignesse.  They  weare  conducted  to  the 
appointed  place,  where  the  women  unfolded  their  bundles,  and  flang 
their  skins  whereof  their  tents  are  made,  so  that  they  had  bowses 
[in]  lesse  then  half  an  houre. 

After  they  rested  they  came  to  the  biggest  cabbane  constituted  for 
that  purpose.  There  weare  fires  kindled.  Our  Captayne  made  a  speech 
of  thanksgiving,  which  should  be  long  to  writ  it.  We  are  called  to 
the  councell  of  new  come  chiefe,  where  we  came  in  great  pompe,  as 
you  shall  heare.  First  they  come  to  make  a  saicrifice  to  the  ffrench, 
being  Gods  and  masters  of  all  things,  as  of  peace,  as  warrs;  making 
the  knives,  the  hattchetts,  and  the  kettles  rattle,  etc.  That  they  came 


GKOSEILLIEKS   AND   EADISSOX.  177 

purposely  to  putt  themselves  under  their  protection.  Moreover,  that 
they  came  to  bring  them  back  againe  to  their  countrey,  having  by 
their  means  destroyed  their  Ennemyes  abroad  &  neere.  So  said,  they 
present  us  with  guifts  of  Castors'  skins,  assuring  us  that  the  moun- 
tains weare  elevated,  the  valleys  risen,  the  ways  very  smooth,  the 
bows  of  trees  cutt  downe  to  goe  with  more  ease,  and  bridges  erected 
over  rivers,  for  not  to  wett  our  feete;  that  the  dores  of  their  villages, 
cottages  of  their  wives  and  daughters,  weare  open  at  any  time  to  re- 
ceive us,  being  wee  kept  them  alive  by  our  marchandises.  The  second 
guift  was,  that  they  would  die  in  their  alliance,  and  that  to  certifie 
to  all  nations  by  continuing  the  peace,  &  weare  willing  to  receive  and 
assist  them  in  their  countrey,  being  well  satisfied  they  weare  come  to 
celebrat  the  feast  of  the  dead.  The  3rd  guift  was  for  to  have  one  of 
the  doors  of  the  fort  opened,  if  neede  required,  to  receive  and  keepe 
them  from  the  Christinos  that  come  to  destroy  them;  being  allwayes 
men,  and  the  heavens  made  them  so,  that  they  weare  obliged  to  goe 
before  to  defend  their  countrey  and  their  wives,  which  is  the  dear- 
est thing  they  had  in  the  world,  &  in  all  times  they  weare 
esteemed  stout  &  true  soldiers,  &  that  yett  they  would  make 
it  appeare  by  going  to  meet  them;  and  that  they  would  not  degenerat, 
but  shew  by  their  actions  that  they  weare  as  valiant  as  their  fore 
ffathers.  The  4th  guift  was  presented  to  us,  which  was  of  Buff  skins, 
to  desire  our  assistance  ffor  being  the  masters  of  their  lives,  and  could 
dispose  of  them  as  we  would,  as  well  of  the  peace  as  of  the  warrs, 
and  that  we  might  very  well  see  that  they  did  well  to  goe  defend  their 
owne  countrey; 'that  the  true  means  to  gett  the  victory  was  to  have  a 
thunder.  They  meant  a  gune,  calling  it  miniskoick. 

The  speech  being  finished,  they  intreated  us  to  be  att  the  feast. 
We  goe  presently  back  again  to  fournish,  us  with  woaden  bowls.  We 
made  foure  men  to  carry  our  guns  afore  us,  that  we  charged  of  powder 
alone,  because  of  their  unskillfulnesse  that  they  might  have  killed 
their  ffathers.  We  each  of  us  had  a  paire  of  pistoletts  and  Sword,  a 
dagger.  We  had  a  role  of  porkepick  about  our  heads,  which  was  as  a 
cio\vne,  and  two  litle  boyes  that  carryed  the  vessels  that  we  had  most 
need  of;  this  was  our  dishes  aud  our  spoons.  They  made  a  place 
higher  &  most  elevate,  knowing  our  customs,  in  the  midle  for  us  to 
sitt,  where  we  had  the  men  lay  our  armes.  Presently  conies  foure 
elders,  with  the  calumet  kindled  in  their  hands.  They  present  the  can- 
dles to  us  to  smoake,  and  foure  beautifull  maids  that  went  before  us, 
carrying  bears'  skins  to  putt  under  us.  When  we  weare  together,  an 
old  man  rises  &  throws  our  calumet  att  our  feet,  and  bids  them  take 
the  kettles  from  of  the  fire,  and  spoake  that  he  thanked  the  sun  that 
never  was  a  day  to  him  so  happy  as  when  he  saw  those  terrible  men 
whose  words  makes  the  earth  quacke,  and  sang  a  while.  Having  ended, 
came  and  covers  us  with  his  vestment,  and  all  naked  except  his  feet 

I.-10 


178  MINNESOTA  IX  THREE  CENTURIES. 

and  leggs,  he  saith,  "Yee  are  masters  over  us;  dead  or  alive  you  have 
the  power  over  us,  and  may  dispose  of  us  as  your  pleasur."  So  done, 
takes  the  oallumet  of  the  feast,  and  brings  it,  so  a  maiden  brings  us  a 
runic  of  fire  to  kindle  it.  So  done,  we  rose,  and  one  of  us  be^'in-  to  -in.Lp. 
We  had  the  interpreter  to  tell  them  we,  should  save  &  keep  their  lives, 
taking  them  fur  our  brethren,  and  to  testify  that  we  shott  of  all  our 
artillery,  which  was  of  twelve  giiniis.  We.  draw  our  swords  and  long 
knives  to  our  defence,  if  need  should  require,  which  putt  the  men  in 
such  a  terror  that  they  knewed  not  what  was  best  to  run  or  si  ay. 
We  throw  a  handftill  of  powder  in  the  fire  to  make  a  greater  noise  and 
smoake. 

Our  songs  being  finished,  we  began  our  teeth  to  worke.  We  had 
there  a  kinde  of  rice,  much  like  oats.  It  growes  in  the  watter  in  3  or 
4  foote  deepe.  There  is  a  God  that  shews  himselfe  in  every  countrey, 
almighty,  full  of  goodnesse.  and  the  preservation  of  those  poore  people 
who  knoweth  him  not.  They  have  a  particular  way  to  gather  up  that 
graine.  Two  takes  a  boat  and  two  sticks,  by  which  they  gett  the 
eare  downe  and  gett  the  corne  out  of  it.  Their  boat  being  full,  they 
bring  it  to  a  fitt  place  to  dry  it,  and  that  is  their  food  for  the  most 
part  of  the  winter,  and  doe  dresse  it  thus:  ffor  each  man  a  handfull 
of  that  they  putt  in  the  pott,  that  swells  so  much  that  it  can  suffice  a 
man.  After  the  feast  was  over  there  comes  two  maidens  bringing 
wherewithal]  to  smoake,  the  one  the  pipes,  the  other  the  fire.  They  of- 
fered ffirst  to  one  of  the  elders,  that  satt  downe  by  us.  When  he  had 
smoaked,  he  bids  them  give  it  us.  This  being  done,  we  went  back  to 
our  fort  as  we  came. 

The  day  following  we  made  the  principal!  Persons  come  together 
to  answer  to  their  guifts.  Being  come  with  great  solemnity,  there  we 
made  our  Interpreter  tell  them  that  we  weare  come  from  the  other 
side  of  the  great  salted  lake,  not  to  kill  them  but  to  make  them  live; 
acknowledging  you  for  our  brethren  and  children,  whom  we  will  love 
henceforth  as  our  owne;  then  we  gave  them  a  kettle.  The  second  guift 
was  to  encourage  them  in  all  their  undertakings,  telling  them  that  we 
liked  men  that  generously  defended  themselves  against  all  their  en- 
nemyes;  and  as  we  weare  masters  of  peace  and  warrs,  we  are  to  dispose 
the  affairs  that  we  would  see  an  universall  peace  all  over  the  earth; 
and  that  this  time  we  could  not  goe  and  force  the  nations  that  weare 
yett  further  to  condescend  &  submitt  to  our  will,  but  that  we  would 
see  the  neighboring  countreys  in  peace  and  union;  that  the  Christines 
weare  our  brethren,  and  have  frequented  them  many  winters;  that  we 
adopted  them  for  our  children,  and  tooke  them  under  our  protection; 
that,  we  should  send  them  ambassadors;  that  I  myself  should  make 
them  come,  and  conclude  a  generall  peace;  that  we  weare  sure  of  their 
obedience  to  us;  that  the  ffirst  that  should  breake  the  peace  we  would 
be  their  ennemy,  and  would  reduce  them  to  powder  with  our  heavenly 


GROSE1LLIERS   AXD   RADISSOX.  179 

fire;  that  we  had  the  word  of  the  Christines  as  well  as  theirs,  and 
our  thunders  should  serve  us  to  make  warrs  against  those  that  would 
not  submitt  to  our  will  and  desire,  which  was  to  see  them  good  friends, 
to  goe  and  make  warrs  against  the  upper  nations,  that  doth  not  know 
us  as  yett.  The  guift  was  of  G  hatchetts.  The  3rd  was  to  oblige  them 
to  receive  our  propositions,  likewise  the  (  hristinos,  to  lead  them  to  the 
dance  of  Union,  which  was  to  be  celebrated  at  the  death's  feast  and 
banquett  of  kindred.  If  they  would  continue  the  warrs,  that  was  not 
the  meanes  to  see  us  againe  in  their  Countrey.  The  4th  was  that  we 
thanked  them  ffor  making  us  a  free  passage  through  their  countreys. 
The  guift  was  of  2  dozen  of  knives.  The  last  was  of  smaller  trifles, — 
6  gratters,  2  dozen  of  awles.  2  dozen  of  needles,  6  dozens  of  looking- 
glasses  made  of  tine,  a  dozen  of  litle  bells.  G  Ivory  combs,  with  a  liile 
vermillion.  But  ffor  to  make  a  recompense  to  the  good  old  man  that 
spake  so  favorably,  we  gave  him  a  hattchett,  and  to  the  Elders  each 
a  blade  for  a  sword,  and  to  the  2  maidens  that  served  us  2  necklaces, 
which  putt  about  their  necks,  and  2  braceletts  for  their  armes.  The 
last  guift  was  in  generall  for  all  the  women  to  love  us  and  give  us  to 
eat  when  we  should  come  to  their  cottages.  The  company  gave  us 
great  Ho!  ho!  ho!  that  is.  thanks.  Our  wildmen  made  others  for 
their  interest. 

A  company  of  about  50  weare  dispatched  to  warne  the  Christines 
of  what  we  had  done.  I  went  myself,  where  we  arrived  the  3rd  day, 
early  in  the  morning.  I  was  received  with  great  demonstration  of 
ffriendshippe.  All  that  day  we  feasted,  danced,  and  sing.  I  compared 
that  place  before  to  the  Buttery  of  Paris,  ffor  the  great  quantity  of 
meat  that  they  use  to  have  there;  but  now  will  compare  it  to  that  of 
London.  There  I  received  guifts  of  all  sorts  of  meate,  of  grease  more 
then  20  men  could  carry.  The  custome  is  not  to  deface  anything  that 
they  present.  There  weare  above  600  men  in  a  fort,  with  a  great  deale 
of  baggage  on  their  shoulders,  and  did  draw  it  upon  light  slids  made 
very  neatly.  I  have  not  seen  them  att  their  entrance,  ffor  the  sun 
blinded  mee.  Coming  back,  we  passed  a  lake  hardly  frozen,  and  the 
sun  [shone  upon  it]  for  the  most"  part,  ffor  I  looked  a  while  stead- 
fastly on  it,  so  I  was  troubled  for  this  seaven  or  eight  dayes. 

The  meane  while  that  we  are  there,  arrived  above  a  thousand  that 
had  not  ben  there  but  for  those  two  redoubted  nations  that  weare  to 
see  them  doe  what  they  never  before  had,  a  difference  which  was  exe- 
cuted with  a  great  deale  of  mirth.  I  ffor  feare  of  being  inuied  I  will 
obmitt  onely  that  there  weare  playes,  mirths,  and  bataills  for  sport, 
goeing  and  coming  with  cryes;  each  plaid  his  part.  In  the  publick 
place  the  women  danced  with  melody.  The  yong  men  that  indeavoured 
to  gett  a  pryse,  indeavoured  to  clime  up  a  great  post,  very  smooth, 
and  greased  with  oyle  of  beare  and  oriniack  grease.  The  stake  was  att 
least  of  15  foot  high.  The  price  was  a  knife  or  other  thing.  We  layd 


180  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 

the  stake  there,  but  whoso  could  catch  it  should  have  it.  The  feast 
was  made  to  eate  all  up.  To  honour  the  feast  many  men  and  women 
did  burst.  Those  of  that  place  coming  backe,  came  in  sight  of '  those 
of  the  village  or  fort,  made  postures  in  similitud  of  warrs.  This  was 
to  discover  the  ennemy  by  signs;  any  that  should  doe  soe  we  gave 
orders  to  take  him,  or  kill  him  and  take  his  head  off.  The  prisoner  to 
be  tyed  [and]  to  fight  in  retreating.  To  pull  an  arrow  out  of  the 
body;  to  exercise  and  strike  with  a  clubbe,  a  buckler  to  theire  feete, 
and  take  it  if  neede  requireth,  and  defende  himselfe,  if  neede  requirs, 
from  the  enemy;  being  in  sentery  to  heark  the  ennemy  that  comes 
neere,  and  to  heare  the  better  lay  him  downe  on  the  side.  Theee 
postures  are  playd  while  the  drums  beate.  This  was  a  serious  thing, 
without  speaking  except  by  nodding  or  gesture.  Their  drums  \vcarc 
earthen  potts  full  of  watter,  covered  with  staggs-skin.  The  sticks 
like  hammers  for  the  purpose.  The  elders  have  bomkins  to  the  end  of 
their  staves  full  of  small  stones,  which  makes  a  ratle,  to  which  yong 
men  and  women  goe  in  a  cadance.  The  elders  are  about  these  potts, 
beating  them  and  singing.  The  women  also  by,  having  a  nosegay  in 
their  hands,  and  dance  very  modestly,  not  lifting  much  their  feete  from 
the  ground,  keeping  their  heads  downewards,  makeing  a  sweet  harmony. 
We  made  guifts  for  that  while  14  days'  time.  Every  one  brings  the 
most  exquisite  things,  to  shew  what  his  country  affoards.  The  renew- 
ing of  their  alliances,  the  marriages  according  to  their  countrey  cous- 
toms,  are  made;  also  the  visit  of  the  boans  of  their  deceased  friends, 
ffor  they  keepe  them  and  bestow  them  uppon  one  another.  We  sang  in 
our  language  as  they  in  theirs,  to  which  they  gave  greate  attention. 
We  gave  them  severall  guifts,  and  received  many.  They  bestowed  upon 
us  above  300  robs  of  castors,  out  of  which  we  brought  not  five  to  the 
ffrench,  being  far  in  the  countrey. 

Among  all  the  very  interesting  records  of  negotiations  and 
treaties  of  "peace  and  union"  made  with  the  Indians  of  tin1 
Northwest  by  forerunners  and  agents  of  the  French  fur  trade, 
none  is  more  picturesque  and  dramatic  than  this.  In  the  late 
autumn  or  winter  of  1634-35,  Jean  Nicolet,  wearing  a  fantastic 
silken  Chinese  vestment,  met  the  Winnebago  Indians  for  a  cere- 
monious conference,  in  the  vague  belief  that  their  country  might 
border  on  the  farthest  eastern  parts  of  Asia.  In  1660,  Groseil- 
liers  and  Radisson,  as  we  have  seen,  probably  within  the  area 
of  Kanabec  county,  in  the  east  central  part  of  Minnesota,  taught 
to  the  Sioux  and  the  Crees,  previously  hostile  to  each  other, 
peace  and  friendship  toward  the  French.  In  1679,  Du  Luth 


GROSEILLIERS   AND   BADISSON.  181 

ceremoniously  planted  the  arms  of  France  in  the  great  village  of 
the  Isanti  tribe  at  Mille  Lacs,  and  in  other  Sioux  villages  of 
northeastern  Minnesota,  none  of  which,  as  he  says,  had  been  be- 
fore visited  by  any  Frenchman;  and  on  the  15th  of  September 
in  that  year,  at  the  west  end  of  Lake  Superior,  he  negitiated  a 
great  treaty  with  the  assembled  tribes  of  the  north,  inducing 
them  to  make  peace  with  the  Sioux,  "their  common  enemy." 
During  the  remaining  years  of  the  seventeenth  century,  Perrot, 
in  1689,  at  Fort  St.  Antoine,  on  the  Wisconsin  shore  of  Lake 
Pepin,  and  Le  Sueur  in  1693  at  Chequamegon  bay,  later  at  his 
trading  post  built  on  Prairie  island  in  1695  according  to  the 
command  of  the  Governor  of  Canada,  and  again  in  the  winter 
of  1700  at  his  Fort  L'Huillier,  on  the  Blue  Earth  river,  were 
conspicuous  by  their  efforts  to  maintain  peace  among  the  Indian 
tribes,  loyalty  to  the  French,  and  consequent  extension  and  pros- 
perity of  the  fur  trade. 

We  may  thank  Eadisson  for  his  particular  care  to  describe 
the  Sioux  who  attended  the  great  feast.  He  thus  gave  the 
earliest  portrayal  of  the  characteristics  of  that  people,  the  abor- 
iginal owners  of  the  greater  part  of  Minnesota.  It  is  to  be 
regretted,  however,  that  he  recorded  only  a  very  meager  account 
of  the  ensuing  visit  of  these  French  traders  with  the  Sioux  of 
the  Buffalo  Prairies  ("the  Nation  of  the  Beef")  in  their  own 
country. 

Groseilliers  and  Eadisson,  according  to  the  narration,  went, 
immediately  after  the  feast  and  probably  in  the  company  of  the 
returning  Tintonwan  Sioux  bands,  by  seven  days'  travel,  to  visit 
them  at  their  homes.  Their  numerous  tribes  occupied  an  exten- 
sive prairie  region,  from  eastern  Iowa  northwesterly  through 
southern  Minnesota  to  lakes  Big  Stone  and  Traverse  and  the 
broad,  very  flat,  valley  plain  of  the  Eed  river  of  the  North.  It 
seems  most  probable  that  the  French  traders  and  their  Indian 
escort  went  by  the  way  of  the  Eum,  Mississippi,  and  Minnesota 
rivers,  passing  the  site  of  Minneapolis.  Starting  from  the  vicin- 
ity of  Knife  lake,  as  we  think,  very  early  in  April,  they  spent 
six  weeks  in  the  visit,  including  in  that  time,  we  may  suppose, 
the  week  of  going  and  two  weeks  or  longer  of  returning  thence 


182  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 

to  Lake  Superior,  so  that  their  arrival  at  Chequamegon  bay  was 
probably  within  the  last  week  or  ten  days  of  May.  • 

\Ylii'th<T  they  went  to  the  prairie  country  by  canoes  or  afoot, 
the  route  seems  to  me  to  have  been  almost  certainly  along  or 
near  the  courses  of  the  Rum  river  and  the  Minnesota  river.  By 
traveling  twenty-five  or  thirty  miles  daily,  they  would  come  in 
a  week  to  the  neighborhood  of  Swan  lake  and  the  site  of  New 
Ulm,  in  the  same  country  where  a  hundred  and  seven  years  later 
Captain  Jonathan  Carver  wintered,  in  1766-67,  with  these  prairie 
tribes.  But  if  it  be  thought  that  "small  journeys"  could  be  no 
more  than  fifteen  or  twenty  miles  daily,  the  locality  where  they 
came  to  the  camp  of  the  roving  and  buffalo-hunting  Sioux  would 
be  perhaps  at  the  Shakopee  prairie  on  the  lower  part  of  the 
Minnesota  river,  or  perhaps  even  very  near  to  Fort  Snelling,  or 
on  the  site  of  either  of  the  Twin  Cities  of  St.  Paul  and  Min- 
neapolis. 

On  the  return  to  Lake  Superior,  Groseilliers  and  Radisson 
accompanied  a  party  of  0  jib  ways  who  had  been  trafficking  with 
these  Sioux,  probably  buying  furs,  under  the  advice  of  the 
French  traders,  for  their  trip  back  to  Lower  Canada  the  next 
summer.  The  route  of  the  return,  doubtless  by  canoes,  was 
apparently  that  most  used  by  the  Ojibways,  passing  down  the 
Minnesota  and  Mississippi  rivers,  by  the  sites  of  Fort  Snelling, 
St.  Paul,  and  Hastings,  to  the  St.  Croix,  up  that  river  to  its 
headwaters,  and  thence  by  many  laborious  portages,  and  through 
Email  lakes  and  streams,  to  Chequamegon  bay. 

It  is  my  belief  that  the  journey  going  to  the  Prairie  Sioux 
was  made  afoot,  and  that  ^t  reached  as  far  as  to  the  site  of 
Bhakopee,  with  its  large  prairie;  or  to  Traverse  des  Sioux,  with 
larger  prairies;  or,  not  improbably,  to  New  Ulm,  on  the  broad, 
far  stretching  prairies  which  continue  thence  uninterrupted  for 
hundreds  of  miles  to  the  west  and  south.  As  Radisson  makes 
nc  mention  of  St.  Anthony  falls,  it  may  be  supposed  that  the 
Frenchmen  and  their  Indian  companions,  in  passing  the  area  of 
Minneapolis,  took  some  footpath  or  trail  through  the  west  part 
of  the  city  area,  by  lakes  Calhoun  and  Harriet,  to  save  distance 
in  coming  to  the  Minnesota  river,  so  that  they  would  not  go 
within  sight  of  the  falls. 


GROSEILLIERS   AND   RADISSON.  183 

The  Teturn,  with  the  Ojibway  traders,  was  very  surely  by 
canoes.  It  is  therefore  quite  within  the  limits  of  probability  to 
picture  in  our  minds  these  daring  travelers  and  their  Ojibway 
comrades  encamping  for  a  night  among  the  willows  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi river  bank  where  the  union  passenger  station  of  the 
railways  centering  in  St.  Paul  now  stands,  or  else  at  the  foot  of 
Dayton's  bluff,  in  the  east  edge  of  this  city,  where  more  than  a 
century  later  Carver  encamped  with  the  Sioux  from  the  Minne- 
sota river. 

A  different  route  of  the  visit  to  the  Sioux  on  their  prairies 
was  suggested  by  Hon.  J.  V.  Brower,  with  whom  Mr.  Alfred  J. 
Hill  was  associated  in  the  study  of  the  early  French  explorations, 
indicating  that  the  Mississippi  was  crossed  by  Groseilliers  and 
Radisson  "some  thirty  or  forty  miles  above  the  present  site  of 
St.  Paul,"  that  is,  near  the  mouth  of  the  Rum  river  or  of  the 
Crow  river,  passing  thence  up  the  Crow  river  to  its  sources  and 
onward  west  to  a  large  village  of  these  Sioux  near  Big  Stone  and 
Traverse  lakes.  The  distance  to  be  thus  traveled,  if  the  French- 
men went  to  those  lakes,  was  greater  than  by  the  Minnesota  river 
to  New  Ulm;  but  they  may  not  have  gone  that  entire  distance, 
as  a  large  encampment  of  the  Prairie  Sioux  for  winter  hunting 
and  trapping  may  have  been  found  in  the  partly  prairie  but 
mostly  forest  country  of  the  Crow  river.  It  seems  to  me  very 
much  more  probable,  however,  that  the  route  was  southward,  in- 
stead of  westward,  from  the  mouth  of  Rum  river.  The  reasons 
for  this  opinion  are,  first,  that  the  Minnesota  river  afforded  the 
most  convenient  navigable  communication  with  the  great  prairie 
region;  and,  second,  that  the  Ojibways  could  come  there  for  traf- 
fic, as  noted  by  Radisson,  without  going  so  far  from  their  own 
territory.  Thirty-five  years  later,  when  Le  Sueur  built  his  trad- 
ing post  on  Prairie  island,  it  was  on  the  neutral  ground  between 
the  Sioux  and  Ojibways,  being  therefore  chosen  as  a  favorable 
place  for  promoting  peace  between  these  tribes. 

In  the  Tintonwan  camp  of  great  tepees,  covered  with  skins 
of  buffalos,  the  Frenchmen  were  told  that  these  Prairie  Sioux 
could  muster  7,000  warriors,  which,  from  what  they  saw,  seemed 
credible.  They  were  shown,  probably,  masses  of  native  copper 


184  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 

from  the  glacial  drift,  such  as  are  occasionally  found  -in  eastern 
and  southern  Minnesota  and  far  southward  in  Iowa;  also  masses 
of  galena,  brought  by  these  nomadic  people  from  the  lead  region 
of  eastern  Iowa  and  northwestern  Illinois;  and  selenite  crystals. 
"transparent  and  tender,"  from  the  Cretaceous  shales,  and  from 
drift  of  Cretaceous  derivation,  on  the  high  Coteau  des  Prairies 
southwest  of  the  Minnesota  valley. 

The  too  concise  description   of  the  visit  to  the   Prairie  or 
Buffalo  Sioux  is  as  follows: 

This  feast  ended,  every  one  retourns  to  his  own  countrey  well 
satisfied.  To  be  as  good  as  our  words,  we  came  to  the  nation  of  the 
beefe,  which  was  seaven  small  journeys  from  that  place.  We  promised 
in  like  manner  to  the  Christines  the  next  spring  we  should  come  to 
their  side  of  the  upper  lake,  and  there  they  should  meete  us,  to  come 
into  their  countrey.  We  being  arrived  among  that  nation  of  the  beefe, 
we  wondred  to  finde  ourselves  in  a  towne  where  weare  grat  cabbans 
most  covered  with  skins  and  other  close  matts.  They  tould  us  that 
there  weare  7,000  men.  This  we  believed.  Those  have  as  many  wivr* 
as  they  can  keepe.  If  any  one  did  trespasse  upon  the  other,  his  nose 
was  cutt  off,  and  often  the  crowne  of  his  head.  The  maidens  have  all 
maner  of  freedome,  but  are  forced  to  rnary  when  they  come  to  the  age. 
The  more  they  bear  children  the  more  they  are  respected.  I  have  seene 
a  man  having  14  wives.  There  they  have  no  wood,  and  make  provision 
of  mosse  for  their  firing.  This  their  place  is  environed  with  pearches 
which  are  a  good  distance  one  from  an  other,  that  they  gett  in  the 
valleys  where  the  Buffe  use  to  repaire,  uppon  which  they  do  live.  They 
sow  come,  but  their  harvest  is  small.  The  soyle  is  good,  but  the  cold 
hinders  it,  and  the  graine  very  small.  In  their  countrey  are  mines  of 
copper,  of  pewter,  and  of  ledd.  There  are  mountains  covered  with  a 
kind  of  Stone  that  is  transparent  and  tender,  and  like  to  that  of 
Venice.  The  people  stay  not  there  all  the  yeare;  they  retire  in  win- 
ter towards  the  woods  of  the  North,  where  they  kill  a  quantity  of 
Castors,  and  I  say  that  there  are  not  so  good  in  the  whole  world,  but 
not  in  such  a  store  as  the  Christines,  but  far  better. 

Wee  stayed  there  6  weeks,  and  came  back  with  a  company  of  peo- 
ple of  the  nation  of  the  Sault,  that  came  along  with  us  loaden  with 
booty.  We  weare  12  dayes  before  we  could  overtake  our  company  that 
went  to  the  lake.  The  spring  approaches,  which  [is]  the  fitest  time  to 
kill  the  Oriniack.  A  wildman  and  I  with  my  brother  killed  that  time 
above  600,  besides  other  beasts.  We  came  to  the  lake  side  with  much 
painea,  ffor  we  sent  our  wildmen  before,  and  we  two  weare  forced  to 
make  cariages  5  dayes  through  the  woods.  After  we  mett  with  a  com- 


GKOSEILLIEKS   AND   RADISSON.  185 

pany  that  did  us  a  great  deale  of  service,  if  or  they  carryed  what  we 
had,  and  arrived  att  the  appointed  place  before  3  dayes  ended.  Hera 
we  made  a  fort.  Att  our  arrivall  \ve  found  att  least  20  cottages  full. 

The  French  brothers-in-law  have  returned  to  Lake  Superior, 
approaching  it  probably  by  nearly  the  same  route  as  they  tra- 
versed from  it,  and  thus  coming  to  the  head  of  Chequamegon  bay, 
where  they  had  landed  from  their  canoes  the  preceding  autumn. 
Their  first  care  was  to  get  the  merchandise  that  they  had  hidden 
in  the  ground  on  the  other  side  of  a  stream  near  their  little 
stockade  fort.  Next  they  plan  for  the  promised  visit  to  the 
Crees,  in  their  country  on  the  north  shore  of  the  lake.  But  in 
drawing  their  sleds,  heavily  loaded  with  merchandise  and  furs, 
on  the  nearly  dissolved  ice  of  the  bay,  Radisson  was  chilled  and 
wholly  disabled  by  sinking  more  than  knee-deep  in  the  cold 
water,  which  caused  him  a  dangerous  illness  for  eight  days. 

As  soon  as  he  had  somewhat  recovered,  he  was  induced  to  set 
out  on  a  journey  through  the  forest  with  Groseilliers  and  a  large 
party  of  "new  wildmen."  They  appear  to  have  traveled  north- 
westward across  the  Bayfield  peninsula,  to  the  lakeshore  some 
twenty-five  or  thirty  miles  west  of  Ashland  and  the  head  of 
Chequamegon  bay.  But  on  the  third  day,  Radisson's  lameness 
compelled  him  to  lag  behind  the  company,  and  for  the  next  three 
(or  five)  days  he  wandered  on  alone,  until  he  was  found  by  one 
of  the  Indians  who  was  searching  for  him.  Soon  afterward  he 
came  to  an  Indian  camp  on  the  lakeshore,  where  he  found  Gros- 
eilliers and  a  company  of  Crees.  The  lake  ice  had  mostly  melted, 
but  many  drifting  masses  remained,  which  endangered  the  canoe 
passage  made  at  night  across  this  narrow  western  end  of  the  lake 
by  Groseilliers  and  Radisson,  following  the  Crees  who  crossed 
the  day  before.  Apparently  the  passage  was  chosen  to  be  at 
night  in  order  to  leave  the  Hurons  and  other  Indians  of  their 
company  unawares.  We  may  be  quite  sure  that  it  was  explain- 
able in  some  way  for  the  interest  of  the  traders  in  buying  furs. 
Radisson  asserts  that  the  distance  "thwarted"  across  the  lake 
was  fifteen  leagues,  or  about  forty  miles,  the  French  league  being 
2.76  English  miles;  but  it  really  was  only  half  so  far,  if  my  idea 
of  the  place  of  crossing  is  correct,  as  about  midway  between 
Ashland  and  the  cities  of  Superior  and  Duluth. 


186  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 

The  date  of  this  crossing,  when  the  ice  had  melted,  except- 
ing broken  and  drifting  ice  fragments,  may  have  been  as  late  as 
a  week  or  ten  days  after  the  beginning  of  June,  which  accords 
well  with  our  foregoing  computations  of  the  dates  of  events  re- 
corded during  the  entire  winter  and  spring.  The  late  Hon.  John 
R.  Carey,  in  his  paper  on  the  history  of  Duluth,  written  in  1898 
and  published  in  Volume  IX  of  the  Minnesota  Historical  Society 
Collections,  stated  that  he  "knew  of  two  men  getting  off  a  steam- 
boat that  had  been  stuck  in  the  ice  for  several  days,  on  the  9th 
of  June,  almost  forty  years  ago,  and  walking  to  shore  on  the 
broken  ice  a  distance  of  six  or  eight  miles."  So  late  continuance 
of  the  ice  in  the  lake  adjacent  to  Duluth  is  infrequent;  but  it 
may  perhaps  have  remained  even  later  in  the  year  1660,  when 
Groseilliers  and  Radisson  were  there.  The  crossing  apparently 
was  not  earlier  than  the  first  of  June,  nor  later  than  June  15th. 
The  narration,  resumed  from  the  preceding  quotation,  runs 
thus: 

One  very  faire  evening  we  went  to  finde  what  we  hide  before,  which 
we  finde  in  a  good  condition.  We  went  about  to  execut  our  resolution, 
fforseeing  that  we  must  stay  that  year  there,  ffor  which  wee  weare  not 
very  sorry,  being  resolved  to  know  what  we  heard  before.  We  waited 
untill  the  Ice  should  vanish,  but  received  [news]  that  the  Octanaks 
built  a  fort  on  the  point  that  formes  that  Bay,  which  resembles  a  small 
lake.  We  went  towards  it  with  all  speede.  We  had  a  great  store 
of  booty  which  we  would  not  trust  to  the  wildmen,  ffor  the  occasion 
makes  the  thiefe.  We  overloaded  our  slide  on  that  rotten  Ice,  and 
the  further  we  went  the  Sun  was  stronger,  which  made  our  Trainage 
have  more  difficultie.  I  seeing  my  brother  so  strained,  I  tooke  the 
slide,  which  was  heavier  then  mine,  and  he  mine.  Being  in  that  extent 
above*  foure  leagues  from  the  ground,  we  sunke  downe  above  the  one 
halfe  of  the  legge  in  the  Ice,  and  must  advance  in  spight  of  our  teeth. 
To  leave  our  booty  was  to  undoe  us.  We  strived  so  that  I  hurted  my- 
selfe  in  so  much  that  I  could  not  stand  up  right,  nor  any  further.  This 
putt  us  in  great  trouble.  Uppon  this  I  advised  my  brother  to  leave 
me  with  his  slide.  We  putt  the  two  sleds  one  by  another.  I  tooke 
some  cloathes  to  cover  me.  After  I  stripped  myselfe  from  my  wett 
cloathes,  I  layed  myselfe  downe  on  the  slide;  my  brother  leaves  me  to 
the  keeping  of  that  good  God.  We  had  not  above  two  leagues  more 
to  goe.  He  makes  hast  and  came  there  in  time  and  sends  wildmen  for 
me  and  the  slids.  Here  we  found  the  perfidiousnesse  of  the  Octanaks. 
Seeing  us  in  Extremitie,  would  prescribe  us  laws.  We  promised  them 
whatever  they  asked.  They  came  to  fetch  me. 


GROSEILLIERS   AND   RADISSON.  187 

For  eight  days  I  was  so  tormented  I  thought  never  to  recover.  I 
rested  neither  day  nor  night;  at  last  by  means  that  God  and  my  brother 
did  use,  which  was  by  rubbing  my  leggs  with  hott  oyle  of  bears 
and  keeping  my  thigh  and  leggs  well  tyed,  it  came  to  its  former 
strenght.  After  a  while  I  came  to  me  selfe.  There  comes  a  great 
company  of  new  wildmen  to  seeke  a  nation  in  that  land  for  a  weighty 
buissinesse.  They  desired  me  to  goe  a  long,  so  I  prepare  myselfe  to 
goe  with  them.  I  marched  well  2  days;  the  3rd  day  the  sore  begins 
to  breake  out  againe,  in  so  much  that  I  could  goe  no  further.  Those 
left  me,  albeit  I  came  for  their  sake.  You  will  see  the  cruelties  of 
those  beasts,  and  I  may  think  that  those  that  liveth  on  fish  uses 
more  inhumanities  then  those  that  feed  upon  flesh;  neverthelesse  I 
proceeded  forwards  the  best  I  could,  but  knewed  [not]  where  for  the 
most  part,  the  sun  being  my  onely  guide. 

There  was  some  snow  as  yett  on  the  ground,  which  was  so  hard 
in  the  mornings  that  I  could  not  percave  any  tracks.  The  worst  was 
that  I  had  not  a  hattchett  nor  other  arme,  and  not  above  the  weight 
of  ten  pounds  of  victualls,  without  any  drink.  I  was  obliged  to  pro- 
ceed five  dayes  for  my  good  fortune.  I  indured  much  in  the  morning, 
but  a  litle  warmed,  I  went  with  more  ease.  I  looked  betimes  for  som 
old  cabbans  where  I  found  wood  to  make  fire  wherwith.  I  melted 
the  snow  in  my  cappe  that  was  so  greasy.  One  night  I  finding  a  cot- 
tage covered  it  with  boughs  of  trees  that  I  found  ready  cutt.  The  fire 
came  to  it  as  I  began  to  slumber,  which  soone  awaked  me  in  hast, 
lame  as  I  was,  to  save  meselfe  from  the  fire.  My  racketts,  shoos,  and 
s^okens  kept  me  my  life;  I  must  needs  save  them.  I  tooke  them  and 
flung  them  as  farr  as  I  could  in  the  snow.  The  fire  being  out,  I  was 
forced  to  looke  for  them,  as  dark  as  it  was,  in  the  said  snow,  all  naked 
and  very  lame,  and  almost  starved  both  for  hunger  and  cold.  But 
what  is  it  that  a  man  cannot  doe  when  he  seeth  that  it  concerns  his 
life,  that  one  day  he  must  loose?  Yett  we  are  to  prolong  it  as  much 
as  we  cane,  &  the  very  feare  maketh  us  to  invent  new  wayes. 

The  fifth  day  I  heard  a  noyse  and  thought  it  of  a  wolfe.  I  stood 
still,  and  soone  perceived  that  it  was  of  a  man.  Many  wild  men  weare 
up  and  downe  looking  for  me,  fearing  least  the  Bears  should  have 
devoured  me.  That  man  came  neere  and  saluts  me3  and  demands 
whether  it  was  I.  We  both  satt  downe;  he  looks  in  my  sacke  to  see 
if  I  had  victualls,  where  he  finds  a  peece  as  bigg  as  my  fist.  He  eats 
this  without  participation,  being  their  usuall  way.  He  inquireth  if  I 
was  a  hungary.  I  tould  him  no,  to  shew  meself  stout  and  resolute.  He 
takes  a  pipe  of  tobacco,  and  then  above  20  pounds  of  victualls  he  takes 
out  of  his  sack,  and  greased,  and  gives  it  me  to  eate.  I  eat  what  I 
could,  and  gave  him  the  rest.  He  bids  me  have  courage,  that  the  vil- 
lage was  not  far  off.  He  demands  if  I  knewed  the  way,  but  I  was 
not  such  as  should  say  no.  The  village  was  att  hand.  The  other  wild- 


188  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 

men  arrived  but  the  day  before,  and  after  a  while  came  by  boats  to 
the  lake.  The  boats  weare  made  of  Oriniacks'  skins.  I  find  my  brother 
with  a  company  of  Christines  that  weare  arrived  in  my  absence.  We 
resolved  to  cover  our  buissinesse  better,  and  close  our  designe  as 
if  we  weare  going  a  hunting,  and  send  them  before;  that  we  would 
follow  them  the  next  night,  which  we  did,  &  succeeded,  but  not  with- 
out much  labor  and  danger;  for  not  knowing  the  right  way  to  thwart 
the  other  side  of  the  lake,  we  weare  in  danger  to  perish  a  thousand 
times  because  of  the  crums  of  Ice.  We  thwarted  a  place  of  15  leagues. 
We  arrived  on  the  other  side  att  night.  When  we  came  there,  we  kne\ve<l 
not  where  to  goe,  on  the  right  or  left  hand,  ffor  we  saw  no  body.  Att 
last,  as  we  with  full  sayle  came  from  a  deepe  Bay,  we  perceived  smoake 
and  tents.  Then  many  boats  from  thence  came  to  meete  us.  We  are 
received  with  much  joy  by  those  poore  Christines.  They  suffered  not 
that  we  trod  on  ground;  they  leade  us  into  the  midle  of  their  cot- 
tages in  our  own  boats,  like  a  couple  of  cocks  in  a  Basquett.  There 
weare  some  wildmen  that  followed  us  but  late.  * 

FICTITIOUS  JOURNEY  TO   HUDSON   BAY. 

Without  beginning  a  new  paragraph,  Raclisson  turns 
abruptly  away  from  the  Cree  encampment  on  the  north  shore  of 
Lake  Superior,  doubtless  somewhere  between  fifteen  and  fifty 
miles  northeast  of  Duluth,  and  quite  probably  very  near  the  site 
of  the  present  town  of  Two.  Harbors  (but  possibly  farther  west, 
close  to  the  mouth  of  Knife  river,  or  farther  east,  at  Beaver 
bay),  where  the  Crees  had  so  heartily  welcomed  these  traders. 
In  two  short  sentences  he  reaches  Hudson  bay,  and  before  the  end 
of  the  paragraph  he  supplies  confirmations  of  this  statement  by 
saying  that  they  found  a  ruined  house  bearing  bullet  marks,  and 
that  the  Indians  there  told  of  European  visitors,  meaning  evi- 
dently that  sailing  vessels  had  come  to  that  southern  part  of  the 
bay.  This  section  of  the  narrative,  including  indeed  a  whole 
year,  from  the  arrival  at  the  Cree  camp  northwest  of  Lake  Su- 
perior to  the  time  of  preparations  for  the  return  to  Lower  Can- 
ada, seems  to  me  to  have  been  fictitiously  inserted  by  Ra<liss<>n. 
nearly  as  he  added  a  fictitious  year,  according  to  my  conclusions 
before  noted,  in  the  account  of  his  previous  far  western  expedi- 
tion. 

At  the  end  of  his  narration  of  that  expedition,  Radisson 
wrote:  "My  brother  and  I  considered  whether  we  should  dis- 


GROSEILLIERS.  AKD   RADISSOX.  189 

cover  what  we  have  scene  or  no;  and  because  we  had  not  a  full 
and  whole  discovers',  which  was  that  we  have  not  been  in  the  bay 
of  the  north,  not  knowing  anything  but  by  report  of  the  wild 
Christinos,  we  would  make  no  mention  of  it  for  feare  that  those 
wildmen  should  tell  us  a  fibbe.  We  would  have  made  a  discovery 
of  it  ourselves  and  have  an  assurance,  before  we  should  dis- 
cover anything  of  it."  After  reading  these  words,  I  have  been 
very  unwilling  to  disbelieve  our  author  concerning  the  journey 
from  Lake  Superior  to  Hudson  bay,  which  was  the  chief  object 
of  ambition  to  both  these  explorers;  but  full  consideration  ap- 
pears to  me  to  show  that  Radisson  here  told  to  his  English  pat- 
rons, on  a  large  scale  and  deliberately,  for  his  personal  advance- 
ment, what  he  feared  that  the  wild  Crees  might  have  told  to  him, 
a  fiction. 

It  will  be  preferable  to  give  the  continuation  of  Radisson' s 
narrative,  as  follows,  before  stating  in  detail  my  numerous  rea- 
sons for  thus  regarding  it  as  false. 

*  *  *  We  went  away  with  all  hast  possible  to  arrive  the  sooner 
att  the  great  river.  We  came  to  the  seaside,  where  we  finde  an  old 
howse  all  demollished  and  battered  with  boulletts.  We  weare  tould 
that  those  that  came  there  weare  of  two  nations,  one  of  the  wolf,  the 
other  of  the  long-horned  beast.  All  those  nations  are  distinguished  by 
the  representation  of  the  beasts  or  animals.  They  tell  us  particularities 
of  the  Europians.  We  know  ourselves,  and  what  Europ  is,  therefore  in 
vaine  they  tell  us  as  for  that. 

We  went  from  Isle  to  Isle  all  that  summer.  We  pluckt  abund- 
ance of  ducks,  as  of  all  other  sort  of  fowles;  we  wanted  nor  fish  nor 
fresh  meate.  We  weare  well  beloved,  and  weare  overjoyed  that  we 
promised  them  to  come  with  such  shipps  as  we  invented.  This  place 
hath  a  great  store  of  cows.  The  wildmen  kill  them  not  except  for  nec- 
essary use.  We  went  further  in  the  bay  to  see  the  place  that  they 
weare  to  passe  that  summer.  That  river  comes  from  the  lake  and 
empties  itselfe  in  the  river  of  Sagnes,  called  Tadousack,  which  is  a  hun- 
dred leagues  in  the  great  river  of  Canada,  as  where  we  weare  in  the 
Bay  of  the  north.  We  left  in  this  place  our  marks  and  rendezvous. 
The  wildmen  that  brought  us  defended  us  above  all  things,  if  we  would 
come  directly  to  them,  that  we  should  by  no  means  land,  and  so  goe 
to  the  river  to  the  other  sid,  that  is,  to  the  north,  towards  the  sea, 
telling  us  that  those  people  weare  very  treacherous.  Now,  whether  they 
tould  us  this  out  of  pollicy,  least  we  should  not  come  to  them  ffirst,  & 
so  be  deprived  of  what  they  thought  to  gett  from  us  [I  know  not].  In 


190  MINNESOTA  IX  THBEE  CEXTURII->. 

iliat  vim  may  see  that  the  envy  and  envy  raigns  every  \\here  anioiiLr-i 
poor  barbarous  wild  people  as  att  Courts.  They  made  us  a  raapp  of 
what  \\(>  could  not  see,  because  the  time  was  nigh  to  reape  among 
tin-  bustards  and  Ducks.  As  we  came  to  the  place  where  the>e  oat- 
uro\\es  (they  grow  in  many  places),  you  would  think  it  strung  to 
see  the  great  number  of  Ifowles,  that  are  so  fatt  by  eating  of  thi>  gniine 
that  heardly  they  will  move  from  it.  I  have  seene  a  wildman  killing 
3  duoks  at  once  with  one  arrow.  It  is  an  ordinary  thing  to  sec  live  |or| 
>ix  hundred  swans  together.  I  must  professe  I  wondered  that  the  win- 
ter there  was  so  cold,  when  the  sand  boyles  att  the  watter  side  for 
eXtreame  heate  of  the  sun.  I  putt  some  eggs  in  that  sand,  and  leave 
them  halfe  an  houre;  the  eggs  weare  as  hard  as  stones.  We  passed 
that  summer  quietly,  coasting  the  seaside,  and  as  the  cold  began,  we 
prevented  the  Ice.  We  have  the  commoditie  of  the  river  to  carry  our 
things  in  our  boats  to  the  best  place,  where  weare  most  bests. 

This  is  a  wandring  nation,  and  containeth  a  vaste  countrey.  In 
winter  they  live  in  the  land  for  the  hunting  sake,  and  in  summer  by 
the  watter  for  fishing.  They  never  are  many  together,  ffor  feare  of 
wronging  one  another.  They  are  of  a  good  nature.  *  *  *  having  but 
one  wife,  and  are  [more]  satisfied  then  any  others  that  I  knewed.  They 
cloath  themselves  all  over  with  castors'  skins  in  winter,  in  summer  of 
staggs'  skins.  They  are  the  best  huntsmen  of  all  America,  and  scorns 
to  catch  a  castor  in  a  trappe.  The  circumjacent  nations  goe  all  naked 
when  the  season  permitts  it.  But  this  have  more  modestie,  ffor  they 
putt  a  piece  of  copper  made  like  a  finger  of  a  glove,  which  they  use 
before  their  nature.  They  have  the  same  tenets  as  the  nation  of  the 
beefe,  and  their  apparell  from  topp  to  toe.  The  women  arc1  tender  and 
dclicat,  and  takes  as  much  paines  as  slaves.  They  are  of  more  acute 
wits  then  the  men,  ffor  the  men  are  fools,  but  diligent  about  their 
worke.  They  kill  not  the  yong  castors,  but  leave  them  in  the  watier. 
being  that  they  are  sure  that  they  will  take  him  againe,  which  no  other 
nation  doth.  They  burne  not  their  prisoners,  but  knock  them  in  the 
head,  or  slain  them  with  arrows,  saying  it's  not  decent  for  men  to  be 
so  cruell.  They  have  a  stone  of  Turquois  from  the  nation  of  the  buff 
and  beefe,  with  whome  they  had  warrs.  They  pollish  them,  and  give 
them  the  forme  of  pearle,  long,  flatt,  round  and  [hang]  them  att  their 
nose.  They  [find]  greene  stones,  very  fine,  att  the  side  of  the  same 
bay  of  the  sea  to  the  norwest.  There  is  a  nation  called  among  them- 
selves neuter.  They  speake  the  beefe  and  Christines'  speech,  being 
friends  to  both.  Those  poore  people  could  not  tell  us  what  to  give  us. 
They  weare  overjoyed  when  we  sayd  we  should  bring  them  commodities. 
\\  e  went  up  on  another  river,  to  the  upper  lake.  The  nation  of  the 
beefe  sent  us  guifts,  and  we  to  them,  by  [the]  ambassadors.  In  the 
mi. lie  of  winter  we  joyned  with  a  Company  of  the  fort,  who  gladly 
received  us.  They  weare  resolved  to  goe  to  the  ffrench  the  next 


GROSEILLIERS   AXD   RADISSON.  191 

spring,  because  they  weare   quite  out  of   stocke.     The   feast   of   the   dead 
consumed   a  great   deale  of  it. 

By  our  ambassadors  I  came  to  know  an  other  Lake  which  is  north- 
erly of  their  countrey.  They  say  that  it's  bigger  then  all  the  rest. 
The  upper  end  is  allways  frozen.  Their  ffish  comes  from  those  parts. 
There  are  people  that  lives  there  and  dare  not  trade  in  it  towards  the 
south.  There  is  a  river  so  deepe  and  blacke  that  there  is  no  bottome. 
They  say  that  fish  goes  neither  out  nor  in  to  that  river.  It  is  very 
warme,  and  if  they  durst  navigate  in  it,  they  should  not  come  to  the 
end  in  40  dayes.  That  river  comes  from  the  lake,  and  the  inhabitants 
makes  warrs  against  the  birds,  that  defends  and  offends  with  theire 
bills  that  are  as  sharpe  as  sword.  This  I  cannot  tell  for  truth,  but  told 
me.  *  *  * 

If  Radisson  had  made  the  long  journey  with  canoes  from 
Lake  Superior  to  Hudson  bay,  by  any  one  of  several  possible 
routes;,  it  seems  very  certain  that  lie  would  have  given  some  ac- 
count of  the  route,  more  than  to  indicate  vaguely  that  it  was 
by  "the  great  river."  The  only  route  that  would  suggest  such 
description  is  the  entirely  improbable  one  by  way  of  Lake  Winni- 
peg and  the  Nelson  river.  His  claim  to  have  reached  Hudson 
bay  is  thus  shown  to  be  a  fiction,  because  he  would  come  to  it  by 
rivers  of  no  great  size.  The  error,  curiously,  is  opposite  to  that 
which  discredit.-  his  assertion  in  the  former  western  expedition, 
that  they  came  to  the  coast  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  where  he 
failed  to  describe  the  necessary  route  thither  by  the  greatest  river 
of  our  continent. 

Describing  the  fauna  of  the  Hudson  bay  region,  Radisson 
says  that  it  "had  a  great  store  of  cows,"  that  is,  buffaloes.  This 
statement,  as  Dr.  George  Bryce  remarks,  is  inapplicable  to  Hud- 
son bay,  which  lies  far  northeast  of  the  former  range  of  the 
buffalo,  its  limits  being  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Lake  of  the  Woods 
and  Lake  Winnipeg,  near  the  northeastern  borders  of  the  vast 
prairie  area. 

The  most  absurd  error  of  our  narrator  is  his  assertion  con- 
cerning the  remarkable  heat  of  summer  days  in  that  northern 
country,  of  which  he  had  perhaps  received  exaggerated  ideas 
from  the  descriptions  given  by  the  Crees.  It  brands  the  whole 
story  of  the  travel  to  Hudson  bay  as  false  when  we  are  told  that 
eggs  can  be  cooked  there  by  the  heat  of  the  beach  sand,  and  that 


192  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 

Kadisson,  in  trying  the  experiment,  left  the  eggs  too  long,  so 
that  they  were  boiled  "as  hard  as  stones." 

The  Jesuit  Relations  and  Journal  indicate  only  one  year  as 
the  duration  of  this  expedition,  which  would  suffice  for  all  the 
narration  of  Radisson  excepting  the  year  that  he  gives  to  his 
vague  and  erroneous  description  of  travel  to  Hudson  bay  and 
spending  the  summer  there.  He  says  that  they  returned  to  Lake 
Superior  by  another  river,  a  different  canoe  route;  but  he  makes 
no  mention  of  seeing  the  Lake  of  the  Woods  or  Lake  Winnipeg 
either  in  going  or  returning.  In  view  of  all  these  considerations, 
we  must  reject  the  statements  of  the  French  authors,  Potherie 
and  Jeremie,  who  say  that  Groseilliers  and  Radisson  visited  Hud- 
son bay  overland  from  Lake  Superior;  and  also  that  of  the  Eng- 
lish  historian,  Oldmixon,  who  wrote  that  these  two  French  ex- 
plorers, coming  to  the  lake  of  the  Assiniboines  (Lake  Manitoba 
or  Lake  Winnipeg),  were  thence  conducted  by  the  savages  to 
Hudson  bay.  Such  claims  were  doubtless  made  by  Groseilliers 
and  Radisson,  both  in  England  and  France,  during  the  next 
twenty-five  years,  for  the  prestige  to  be  thus  obtained  in  proffer- 
ing their  services  for  sea  expeditions  and  commerce  in  the  Hud- 
son bay  region;  but  no  credence  should  be  given  to  this  part  of 
Radisson's  narration. 

Professor  Bryce  well  says:  "Closely  interpreted,  it  is  plain 
that  Radisson  had  not  only  not  visited  Hudson  or  James  bay,  but 
that  he  had  a  wrong  conception  of  it  altogether.  He  is  simply 
giving  a  vague  story  of  the  Christinos." 

Oldmixon's  statement  that  these  French  adventurers  traveled 
first  to  the  Assiniboine  country  and  Lake  Winnipeg  is  disproved 
by  Radisson's  description  of  that  lake,  based  on  his  hearsay  from 
the  Indians.  As  we  should  expect,  gross  mistakes  are  admitted, 
a.=  the  estimate  that  it  is  larger  than  any  of  the  lakes  tributary 
to  the  St.  Lawrence,  and  that  its  northern  part  is  "always 
frozen."  It  is  also  noteworthy  that  Radisson  makes  no  men- 
tiun  of  the  Assiniboines  in  connection  with  these  expeditions, 
excepting  that,  at  the  end  of  his  narration,  their  old  name,  Asini- 
pour,  is  included  in  his  list  of  "the  Nations  that  live  in  the 
North."  If  he  had  traveled  to  the  area  of  Manitoba,  he  could 


GROSEILLIERS  AND  RADISSON.  193 

not  have  failed  to  become  acquainted  with  the  Assiniboines  and 
to  give  some  account  of  them. 

Besides  the  evidence  contained  in  the  Jesuit  writings  of 
1659-60,  implying  that  these  Frenchmen  spent  only  one  year 
in  this  second  western  expedition,  and  making  no  mention  of 
their  going  to  Hudson  bay  (for  which  indeed  they  could  not 
have  had  sufficient  time  in  an  absence  of  only  a  year  from 
Lower  Canada),  the  Relation  for  that  year  otherwise  adds  to 
our  distrust  of  the  Hudson  bay  statement  of  Radisson.  During 
the  summer  of  1659,  when,  if  this  narration  be  accepted,  he  and 
Groseilliers  were  going  "from  isle  to  isle"  in  James  and  Hud- 
son bays,  the  Jesuit  Relation  informs  us  that  a  journey  about 
Hudson  bay  was  made  by  an  Algonquian  chief  or  captain,  named 
Awatanik,  who  had  been  baptized  ten  years  before  in  the  coun- 
try of  Lake  Nipissing.  This  Indian,  according  to  the  Relation, 
went  across  from  Lake  Superior  and  coasted  "along  the  entire 
Bay,"  finding  abundance  of  game,  and  conversing  much  with  the 
Indian  tribes  there.  Returning  to  the  St.  Lawrence  region  by  a 
southeastern  route,  he  was  interviewed  July  30th,  1660,  on  the 
Saguenay  river  by  the  Jesuit  reporter  for  the  Relation  of 
1659-60.  With  such  definite  and  full  intelligence  from  the  re- 
gion of  Hudson  bay  for  the  very  year  when  Radisson  claims  to 
have  been  there,  the  Relation  yet  has  no  word  of  confirmation  of 
his  assertions,  which,  bearing  many  inherent  marks  of  false- 
hood, seem  from  every  point  of  view  unworthy  of  our  acceptance. 

How  far  northward  these  traders  advanced,  we  cannot  de- 
termine; but  to  the  present  writer  it  appears  quite  unlikely  that 
they  went  so  far  as  to  the  northern  boundary  of  Minnesota. 
Some  writers  have  supposed  that  the  "R.  des  Grosillers"  of 
Franquelin's  map  in  1688  was  named  for  Groseilliers,  marking 
his  route  of  departure  from  Lake  Superior  to  go  to  Hudson  bay; 
but  it  seems  better  to  consider  this  the  Gooseberry  river  of  the 
present  map,  translated  from  its  Indian  and  French  names,  so 
designated  for  its  abundance  of  wild  gooseberries.  From  the 
same  berries  Chouart  adopted  this  title,  probably  likewise  given 
to  a  land  estate  owned  by  him  at  Three  Rivers.  The  map 
of  Franquelin  was  apparently  drafted  for  this  part  mainly  ac- 

i.-ii 


194     MINNESOTA  IX  THREE  CENTURI) 

cording  to  information  from  Du  Luth,  who  had  recently  traveled 
much  west  and  north  of  Lake  Superior. 

THE  RETURN  TO  MONTREAL  AND  THREE  RIVERS. 

Continuing  from  the  last  quotation  of  Radisson's  narrative, 
it  gives  in  the  same  paragraph  the  circumstances  of  the  depar- 
ture to  return  to  Lower  Canada,  apparently  starting  from  Che- 
quamegon  bay,  with  a  great  company  of  Indians  and  very  valu- 
able furs,  as  follows: 

*  *  *  All  the  circumjacent  neighbours  do  incourage  us,  saying 
that  they  would  venter  their  lives  with  us,  for  which  we  weare  much 
overjoyed  to  see  them  so  freely  disposed  to .  go  along  with  us.  Here 
nothing  but  courage.  "Brother,  doe  not  lye,  ffor  the  ffrench  will  not 
believe  thee."  All  men  of  courage  and  vallour,  lett  them  fetch  com- 
modities, and  not  stand  lazing  and  be  a  beggar  in  the  cabbane.  It  is 
the  way  to  be  beloved  of  women,  to  goe  and  bring  them  wherewithal! 
to  be  joyfull.  We  present  guifts  to  one  and  to  another  for  to  warne 
them  to  that  end  that  we  should  make  the  earth  quake,  and  give  terror 
to  the  Iroquoits  if  they  weare  so  bold  as  to  shew  themselves.  The 
Christinos  made  guifts  that  they  might  come  with  us.  This  was. 
graunted  unto  them,  to  send  2  boats,  to  testifie  that  they  weare  retained 
slaves  among  the  other  nations,  although  they  furnish  them  with  castors. 
The  boats  ready,  we  embarque  ourselves.  We  weare  700.  There  was 
not  seene  such  a  company  to  goe  downe  to  the  ffrench.  There  woare 
above  400  Christinos'  boats  that  brought  us  their  castors,  in  hopes  that 
the  people  would  give  some  marchandises  for  them.  Att  their  retourne 
the  biggest  boats  could  carry  onely  the  man  and  his  wife,  and  could 
scarce  carry  with  them  3  castors,  so  little  weare  their  boats.  In  sum- 
mer time  I  have  seene  300  men  goe  to  warrs,  and  each  man  his  boat, 
fFor  they  are  that  makes  the  least  boats.  The  company  that  we  had 
filled  above  360  boats.  There  weare  boats  that  caryed  seaven  men,  and 
the  least  two.  *  *  * 

Radisson  says  that  in  two  days  they  arrived  at  "the  River 
of  the  sturgeon,  so  called  because  of  the  great  quantity  of 
sturgeons  that  we  tooke  there,"  enough  of  these  fish  being  dried 
to  serve  as  provision  for  this  large  company  during  the  next 
two  weeks  of  canoeing  along  the  lakeshore.  It  was  doubtless 
the  Ontonagon  river,  of  which  Dablon  wrote,  in  the  Jesuit  Rela- 
tion of  1669-70,  as  follows:  "In  the  River  named  Nantounagan* 


GROSEILLIEBS   AND   RADISSOX.  195 

which  is  toward  the  South,  very  extensive  fishing  for  Sturgeon 
is  carried  on,  day  and  night,  from  Spring  until  Autumn;  and 
it  is  there  that  the  Savages  go  to  lay  in  their  provision." 

Before  they  came  to  the  Keweenaw  peninsula,  they  surprised 
a  small  camp  of  seven  Iroquois,  "who  doubtlesse  stayed  that 
winter  in  the  lake  of  the  hurrons,  and  came  there  to  discover 
somewhat."  The  Iroquois  abandoned  their  boat  and  the  camp 
equipage,  as  a  kettle,  gun,  hatchet,  etc.,  and  fled  into  the  woods. 
The  Indians  accompanying  Groseilliers  and  Radisson  were  greatly 
alarmed,  lest  they  should  meet  many  Iroquois,  and  resolved  there- 
fore to  turn  back  and  wait  another  year.  With  all  the  persuas- 
ion of  the  two  Frenchmen,  about  a  fortnight  was  lost  in  muster- 
ing courage  again  to  advance.  Radisson  says: 

Twelve  dayes  are  passed,  in  which  time  we  gained  some 
hopes  of  faire  words.  We  called  a  councell  before  the  company  was 
disbanded,  where  we  represented,  if  they  weare  discouvers,  they  had  not 
vallued  the  losse  of  their  kettle,  knowing  well  they  weare  to  gett  another 
where  their  army  layed,  and  if  there  should  be  an  army  it  should 
appeare  and  we  in  such  an  number,  they  could  be  well  afraid  and  turne 
backe.  Our  reasons  weare  hard  and  put  in  execution.  The  next  day 
we  embarqued,  saving  the  Christines,  that  weare  afraid  of  a  sight  of  a 
boat  made  of  another  stuff  then  theirs,  that  they  went  back  as  we 
came  where  the  Iroquoits'  boat  was.  Our  words  proved  true  and  so 
proceeded  in  our  way. 

Being  come  nigh  the  Sault,  we  found  a  place  where  2  of  these 
men  sweated,  &  for  want  of  covers  buried  themselves  in  the  sand  by  the 
watterside  to  keepe  their  bodyes  from  the  flyes  called  maringoines, 
which  otherwise  had  killed  them  with  their  stings.  We  thwarted  those 
2  great  lakes  with  great  pleasur,  having  the  wind  faire  with  us.  It 
was  a  great  satisfaction  to  see  so  many  boats,  and  so  many  that 
never  had  before  commerce  with  the  ffrench.  So  my  brother  and  1 
thought  wee  should  be  wellcomed.  But,  O  covetousnesse,  thou  art  the 
cause  of  many  evils!  We  made  a  small  sayle  to  every  boate;  every 
one  strived  to  be  not  the  last.  The  wind  was  double  wayes  favourable 
to  us.  The  one  gave  us  rest,  the  other  advanced  us  very  much,  which 
wee  wanted  much  because  of  the  above  said  delay.  We  now  are  corned 
to  the  cariages  and  swift  streames  to  gett  the  lake  of  the  Castors.  We 
made  them  with  a  courage,  promptitude,  and  hungar  which  made  goe 
with  hast  as  well  as  the  wind.  We  goe  downe  all  the  great  rivar 
without  any  encounter,  till  we  came  to  the  long  Sault,  where  m» 
brother  some  years  before  made  a  shipwrake.  *  *  * 


196  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTUM! 

Near  the  foot  of  the  Long  Sault,  Adam  Daulac  or  Bollard, 
and  his  handful  of  brave  associates,  late  in  May  of  this  year, 
1660,  had  resisted  500  to  800  Iroquois,  saving  Montreal  from  at- 
tack and  probable  destruction  by  the  sac-rilice  of  their  own  lives. 
The  scene  of  their  heroic  battle  and  death  was  examined  by 
Radisson  and  his  companions  with  amazement  at  the  evidences  of 
their  valor,  and  with  anxiety  for  the  safety  of  Montreal,  where 
they  arrived  the  next  morning.  As  at  Quebec  on  their  return 
from  the  previous  expedition,  the  garrison  greeted  them  by  the 
firing  of  cannon,  "with  a  great  deal  of  Joy  to  see  so  great  a 
number  of  boats  that  did  almost  cover  the  whole  Eiver." 

Groseilliers  and  Radisson  were  less  cordially  welcomed  at 
Quebec  by  the  governor,  Argenson,  as  appears  in  the  continua- 
tion of  the  narrative. 

Wee  stayd  3  dayes  at  niont-Royall,  and  then  wee  went  down  to 
the  three  Rivers.  The  wildmen  did  aske  our  advice  whether  it  was 
best  for  them  to  goe  down  further.  We  told  them  no,  because  of  the 
dangers  that  they  may  meet  with  at  their  returne,  for  the  Irokoits 
could  have  notice  of  their  comeing  down,  and  so  come  and  lay  in  ambush 
for  them,  and  it  was  in  the  latter  season,  being  about  the  end  of 
August.  Well,  as  soon  as  their  businesse  was  done,  they  vent  back 
a^ain  very  well  satisfied  and  wee  very  ill  satisfied  for  our  reception, 
which  was  very  bad  considering  the  service  wee  had  done  to  the 
countrey,  which  will  at  another  time  discourage  those  that  by  our  ex- 
ample would  be  willing  to  venture  their  lives  for  the  benefit  of  the 
countrey,  seeing  a  Governor  that  would  grow  rich  by  the  labours  and 
hazards  of  others.  *  *  * 

The  Governor,  seeing  us  come  back  with  a  considerable  summe  for 
our  own  particular,  and  seeing  that  his  time  was  expired  and  that  he 
was  to  goe  away,  made  use  of  that  excuse  to  doe  us  wrong  &  to  en- 
rich himselfe  with  the  goods  that  wee  had  so  dearly  bought,  and  by 
our  meanes  wee  made  the  country  to  subsist,  that  without  us  had 
bcene,  I  believe,  oftentimes  quite  undone  and  ruined,  and  the  better  to 
say  at  his  last  beeding,  no  castors,  no  ship,  &  what  to  doe  without  nec- 
cs-arv  commodities.  He  made  also  my  brother  prisoner  for  not  hav- 
ing observed  his  orders,  and  to  be  gone  without  his  leave,  although 
one  of  his  letters  made  him  blush  for  shame,  not  knowing  what  to  say, 
but  that  he  would  have  some  of  them  at  what  price  soever,  that  he 
might  the  better  maintain  his  coach  &  horses  at  Paris.  He  fines  us 
four  thousand  pounds  to  make  a  Fort  at  the  three  Rivers,  telling  us 
for  all  manner  of  satisfaction  that  he  would  give  us  leave  to  put  our 


GROSEILLIERS   AND  RADISSON.  197 

coat  of  armes  upon  it,  and  moreover  6,000  pounds  for  the  country, 
saying  that  wee  should  not  take  it  so  strangely  and  so  bad,  being  wee 
were  inhabitants  and  did  intend  to  finish  our  days  in  the  same  country 
with  our  Relations  and  Friends.  But  the  Bougre  did  grease  his  chopps 
with  it,  and  more,  made  us  pay  a  custome  which  was  the  4th  part, 
which  came  to  14,000  pounds,  so  that  wee  had  left  but  46,000  pounds, 
and  took  away  24,000  pounds.  Was  not  he  a  Tyrant  to  deal  so  with 
us,  after  wee  had  so  hazarded  our  lives,  &  having  brought  in  lesse  then 
2  years  by  that  voyage,  as  the  Factors  of  the  said  country  said,  be- 
tween 40  and  50,000  pistolls?  For  they  spoke  to  me  in  this  manner: 
"In  which  country  have  you  been?  From  whence  doe  you  come?  For 
wee  never  saw  the  like.  From  whence  did  come  such  excellent  castors? 
Since  your  arrivall  is  come  into  our  magazin  very  near  600,000  pounds 
Tournois  of  that  filthy  merchandise,  which  will  be  prized  like  gold  in 
France."  And  them  were  the  very  words  that  they  said  to  me. 

Seeing  ourselves  so  wronged,  my  brother  did  resolve  to  goe  and 
demand  Justice  in  France.  It  had  been  better  for  him  to  have  been 
contented  with  his  losses  without  going  and  spend  the  rest  in  halfe 
a  year's  time  in  France,  having  10,000  pounds  that  he  left  with  his  wife, 
that  was  as  good  a  Houswife  as  he.  There  he  is  in  France;  he  is  paid 
with  fair  words  and  with  promise  to  make  him  goe  back  from  whence 
he  came.  *  *  * 

Eadisson  probably  means  so  many  livres  Tournois  or  livres 
of  Tours,  nearly  of  the  value  of  a  modern  franc,  or  about  19  or 
20  cents.  His  imperfect  knowledge  of  the  English  money  and 
language  misled  him  to  write,  throughout  these  paragraphs,  of 
English  pounds,  where  it  would  even  have  included  some  exag- 
geration if  he  had  written  of  so  many  shillings,  instead  of 
pounds. 

ACCOUNTS  IN  THE  JESUIT  RELATION  AND  JOURNAL. 

The  third  chapter  of  the  Relation  of  1659-60,  entitled  "Of 
the  Condition  of  the  Algonquin  Country,  and  of  Some  New 
Discoveries/'  gives  first  a  long  account  of  the  travels  and  observa- 
tions of  Awatanik  before  mentioned,  who  spent  the  summer  of 
1659  in  examining  the  Hudson  Bay  country,  with  much  informa- 
tion derived  from  the  Indians  there  and  communicated  by 
Awatanik  to  Father  Jerome  Lalemant,  the  writer  of  this  part  of 
the  Relation.  The  remainder  of  the  chapter  tells  what  Lalemant 
learned,  soon  after  his  return  from  the  Saguenay  to  Quebec, 


198  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 

concerning  discoveries  by  Groseilliers  and  Radisson,  then  ar- 
riving from  their  Lake  Superior  expedition.  Their  names  are 
not  stated,  but  the  details  of  their  journeying  and  of  their 
visits  with  the  Hurons  and  Sioux  leave  no  doubt  of  their  identity. 
In  the  Journal  of  the  Jesuits,  likewise  written  contemporane- 
ously, Groseilliers  is  named  as  one  of  these  two  French  pioneers 
of  the  fur  trade.  The  Relation  is  as  follows: 

*  *  *  Scarcely  had  I  returned  to  Quebec  when  I  found  two 
Frenchmen  there  who  had  but  just  arrived  from  those  upper  countries, 
with  three  hundred  Algonkins,  in  sixty  canoes  loaded  with  furs.  Fol- 
lowing is  an  account  of  what  they  saw  with  their  own  eyes;  it  will 
give  us  a  view  of  the  condition  of  the  Algonkins  of  the  West,  as  we 
have  until  now  mentioned  those  of  the  North. 

They  passed  the  winter  on  the  shores  of  lake  Superior,  and  were 
fortunate  enough  to  baptize  there  two  hundred  little  children  of  the 
Algonkin  Nation  with  whom  they  first  made  their  abode.  These  child- 
ren were  the  victims  of  disease  and  famine;  and  forty  went  straight 
to  Heaven,  dying  soon  after  Baptism. 

During  their  winter  season,  our  two  Frenchmen  made  divers  excur- 
sions to  the  surrounding  tribes.  Among  other  things,  they  saw,  six 
days'  journey  beyond  the  lake  toward  the  Southwest,  a  tribe  composed 
of  the  remnants  of  the  Hurons  of  the  Tobacco  Nation,  who  have  been 
compelled  by  the  Iroquois  to  forsake  their  native  land,  and  bury 
themselves  so  deep  in  the  forests  that  they  cannot  be  found  by  their 
enemies.  These  poor  people — fleeing  and  pushing  their  way  over  moun- 
tains and  rocks,  through  these  vast  unknown  forests — fortunately  en- 
countered a  beautiful  River,  large,  wide,  deep  and  worthy  of  com- 
parison, they  say,  with  our  great  river  St.  Lawrence.  On  its  banks 
they  found  the  great  Nation  of  the  Alimiwec  [Illinois],  which  gave 
them  a  very  kind  reception.  This  Nation  comprises  sixty  Villages — 
which  confirms  us  in  the  knowledge  that  we  already  possessed,  con- 
cerning many  thousands  of  people  who  fill  all  those  Western  regions. 

Let  us  return  to  our  two  Frenchmen.  Continuing  their  circuit,  they 
were  much"  surprised  on  visiting  the  Naihvochiwco  [Sioux],  to  see 
women  disfigured  by  having  the  ends  of  their  noses  cut  off  down  to 
the  cartilage;  in  that  part  of  the  face,  then,  they  resemble  death's 
heads.  Moreover,  they  have  a  round  portion  of  the  skin  on  the  top 
of  their  heads  torn  away.  Making  inquiry  as  to  the  cause  of  this  ill 
treatment,  they  learned,  to  their  admiration,  that  it  is  the  law  of  the 
country  which  condemns  to  this  punishment  all  women  guilty  of  adul- 
tery, in  order  that  they  may  bear,  graven  on  their  faces,  the  penalty 
and  shame  of  their  sin.  *  *  *  Our  Frenchmen  visited  the  forty 
Villages  of  which  this  Nation  is  composed,  in  five  of  which  there  are 


GROSEILLIERS  AND   RADISSON.  199 

reckoned  as  many  as  five  thousand  men.  But  we  must  take  leave  of 
these  people, — without  much  ceremony,  however, — and  enter  the  terri- 
tories of  another  Nation,  which  is  warlike  and  which  with  its  bows  and 
arrows  has  rendered  itself  as  redoubtable  among  the  upper  Algonkins 
as  the  Iroquois  among  the  lower;  and  so  it  bears  the  name  of  Poualak, 
which  means  "Warriors." 

As  wood  is  scanty  in  supply  and  small  in  size  in  their  country, 
nature  has  taught  them  to  make  fire  with  coal  from  the  earth  and 
to  cover  their  cabins  with  skins.  Some  of  the  more  ingenious  make 
themselves  buildings  of  loam,  very  nearly  as  the  swallows  build  their 
nests;  and  they  would  sleep  not  less  comfortably  under  these  skins 
and  this  mud  than  do  the  great  ones  of  the  earth  under  their  golden 
canopies,  if  they  did  not  fear  the  Iroquois,  who  come  in  search  of  them 
from  a  distance  of  five  and  six  hundred  leagues. 

But  if  the  Iroquois  goes  thither,  why  should  not  we  also?  If  there 
are  conquests  to  make,  why  shall  not  the  faith  make  them,  since  it 
makes  them  in  all  parts  of  the  world?  Behold  countless  peoples,  but 
the  way  to  them  is  closed;  therefore  we  must  break  down  all  obstacles, 
and,  passing  through  a  thousand  deaths,  leap  into  the  midst  of  the 
flames,  to  deliver  therefrom  so  many  poor  Nations.  *  *  * 

Exact  dates  of  the  departure  of  Groseilliers  and  Radisson 
from  Lake  Superior,  with  their  Indian  company,  and  of  their 
arrival  at  Montreal  and  Three  Rivers,  are  supplied  by  the  Jour- 
nal of  the  Jesuit  Fathers,  which  for  August,  1660,  has  this  entry : 

On  the  17th,  monseigneur  of  petraea  [Laval,  titular  Bishop  of 
Arabia  Petraea,  and  vicar  apostolic  for  New  France]  set  out  for  his 
Visitation  to  3  rivers  and  Montreal  with  Monsieur  de  Charny  and  others, 
and  with  the  4  oiochronons  [Iroquois  of  the  Cayuga  tribe].  He  arrived 
at  Montreal  on  the  21st,  at  about  5  o'clock  in  the  evening.  The  Outa- 
wats  had  arrived  there  on  the  19th,  and  left  on  the  following  day,  the 
22nd,  reaching  3  rivers  on  the  24th,  whence  they  started  on  the  27th. 
They  were  300  in  number.  Des  grosilleres  was  in  their  Company;  he 
had  gone  to  their  country  the  previous  year.  They  had  started  from 
Lake  Superior  in  100  canoes;  40  turned  back  and  60  reached  here, 
loaded  with  furs  to  the  value  of  200,000  livres.  They  left  some  to  the 
value  of  50,000  livres  at  Montreal,  and  took  the  remainder  to  3  rivers. 
They  came  down  in  26  Days,  and  took  two  months  to  return.  Des 
grosillers  wintered  with  the  nation  of  the  ox,  which  he  says  consists  of 
4  thousand  men;  they  are  sedentary  Nadwesseronons.  Father  Menar, 
father  Albanel,  Jean  Guerin,  and  6  other  frenchmen  went  with  them. 

The  last  sentence  here  quoted  has  led  several  writers  to 
infer  that  Groseilliers  and  Radisson  returned  again  to  the  west 


200  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 

in  1660,  according  to  the  assertion  that  Fathers  Menard  and 
Albancl  "went  with  them."  This  expression,  however,  clearly 
refers  to  the  large  company  of  the  returning  Indians.  We  have 
no  information  of  any  later  expedition  by  Groseilliers  and  his 
brother-in-law  to  the  far  west.  Instead,  as  we  have  seen,  on  ac- 
count of  the  exactions  of  the  governor,  Groseilliers  went  to 
France  for  redress;  and  the  next  expeditions  which  they  took 
were  sea  voyages,  putting  forth  their  utmost  efforts  to  aid  the 
English  in  supplanting  the  French  for  the  Hudson  Bay  fur 
trade. 

Some  writers  also  have  thought  one  or  both  of  these  ex- 
plorers to  be  Huguenots,  or  at  least  to  have  forsaken  the  Roman 
Catholic  church  when  they  entered  the  service  of  the  English. 
On  the  contrary,  their  baptism  of  Indian  children,  probably  by 
Groseilliers,  is  mentioned  approvingly  in  the  Jesuit  accounts  of 
both  their  far  western  expeditions;  and  I  have  found  no  indi- 
cation that  either  of  them  changed  afterward  to  Protestantism. 

SERVICES    OF    GROSEILLIERS    AND    RADISSON    FOR 
THE  HUDSON  BAY  COMPANY. 

In  the  short  biographic  sketches  of  these  brothers-in-law, 
given  at  the  beginning  of  this  long  chapter,  their  services  for 
England,  again  for  France,  and  later  in  a  second  desertion  from 
their  own  country  to  England,  were  noticed,  all  belonging  to  the 
period  after  their  western  expeditions  to  Minnesota.  Not  com- 
prehending their  discovery  of  the  Mississippi  river,  and  esteem- 
ing the  peltries  of  the  north  to  be  far  more  promising  for  ac- 
quisition of  wealth  than  any  traffic,  colonization,  and  development 
of  the  fertile  western  and  southern  country  beyond  the  great 
lakes,  Groseilliers  and  Radisson  in  their  long  persevering  ambi- 
tion looked  earnestly  to  the  vast  inland  sea  or  bay  of  Hudson, 
to  be  acquired  for  its  fur  trade,  as  they  at  first  hoped,  by  France; 
but  as  they  later  plotted,  when  smarting  under  the  injustice  of 
the  governor  of  Canada  and  the  court  of  France,  it  was  the  mo- 
tive of  Radisson's  writings  to  attain  lucrative  and  commanding 
positions  in  the  service  of  English  patrons,  establishing  them  in 


GROSEILLIERS  AND  RADISSON.  201 

the  commerce  of  that  northern  region.  It  was  largely  through 
the  efforts  of  these  two  French  adventurers,  alternating  in  their 
allegiance  between  the  great  rival  powers  of  France  and  England, 
that  the  Hudson  Bay  Company  was  founded,  in  1670,  and  grew 
in  the  next  two  decades  to  be  an  important  ally  of  the  English 
colonies  and  power  on  this  continent. 

Reviewing  the  conduct  of  these  men  in  their  relations  to  the 
two  governments  under  which  they  were  thus  successively  em- 
ployed, we  see  good  ground  for  excusing  their  first  defection 
from  France;  but  their  wavering  allegiance,  three  times  changed, 
betokens  a  selfish  and  petulant  spirit,  rather  than  a  noble  loyalty 
to  either  their  native  or  their  adopted  country.  The  high-handed 
seizure  by  Radisson,  in  1684,  of  the  French  post  on  Hayes  river 
commanded  by  his  nephew,  though  enriching  the  English,  was 
the  work  of  a  despised  traitor,  and  it  failed  to  win  either  a  large 
pecuniary  reward  or  the  respect  of  the  Hudson  Bay  Company. 
It  brought  the  distinction  of  being  considered  by  the  king  of 
France  as  a  dangerous  enemy. 

Groseilliers  is  supposed  to  have  died  at  his  Canadian 
home,  refusing  the  overtures  for  going  back  to  a  second  residence 
and  service  with  the  English.  Radisson,  having  married  an 
Englishwoman,  spent  many  years  there  in  obscurity,  until  his 
death,  as  a  pensioner  of  this  great  commercial  company.  They 
each  possessed  in  a  very  full  degree  the  qualities  of  sympathetic 
comradeship,  coolness  and  courage  in  dangers,  cheerful  endur- 
ance of  hardships,  and  fondness  for  adventure  and  life  in  the 
wilderness,  which  insured  success  for  the  French  and  Scotch  voy- 
ageurs,  where  the  different  temperaments  of  English  or  Ger- 
man colonists  would  have  made  any  attempt  by  them  to  act  the 
same  part  as  pioneer  explorers  and  traders  a  dismal  failure. 
They  contributed  to  the  founding  of  New  France,  which  reached 
from  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  to  the  Great  Lakes,  and  down  the. 
Mississippi  to  its  mouth;  but  in  all  that  domain  which  they  and 
their  compatriots  discovered  and  won  for  the  mother  country, 
she  now  retains  no  possession. 


202  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 

TO  WHOM  BELONGS  THE  HONOR  OF  DISCOVERY  OF 
THE  UPPER  MISSISSIPPI  RIVER  AND  MINNESOTA? 

Not  much  of  thanks  or  praise  can  be  awarded  to  Groseilliers 
and  Radisson  for  their  being  the  earliest  Europeans  on  the  upper 
Mississippi  river,  and  in  the  area  of  Minnesota;  for  they  failed 
to  discern  the  important  geographic  significance  of  the  great 
river,  and  designedly  concealed  from  their  countrymen,  so  far  as 
possible,  all  knowledge  of  their  travels.  If  we  may  compare  this 
inland  region  with  the  much  grander  discovery  of  the  continent, 
the  expeditions  of  these  first  pioneers  seem  somewhat  like  the 
unfruitful  voyages  of  the  old  Northmen,  reaching  our  northern 
shores  but  not  understanding  the  value  of  their  work,  long  before 
the  purposeful  first"  voyage  of  Columbus,  which,  though  indeed 
with  the  belief  that  the  islands  found  were  merely  outliers  of 
Farther  India,  gave  to  civilization  a  new  hemisphere.  With  sim- 
ilar intelligence  and  patriotism  came  Joliet  and  Marquette,  to 
whom,  second  on  the  upper  Mississippi,  in  1673,  belongs  rightly, 
as  I  believe,  the  highest  honor  of  its  discovery,  because  they  made 
known  what  they  found.  Let  the  glory  of  praise  and  gratitude, 
which  during  more  than  two  hundred  years  has  been  accorded  to 
them,  continue  with  undiminished  luster  in  the  minds  of  fu- 
ture generations.  Likewise  let  the  names  of  Du  Luth  and  of 
Hennepin  and  his  companions  be  held  in  lasting  honor  for  their 
being  the  first  of  white  men  to  make  known  their  explorations  in 
Minnesota. 

But  we  should  also  commemorate  the  work,  so  long  concealed 
from  historians,  by  which  Groseilliers  and  Radisson  earlier 
reached  this  mighty  river  and  first  saw  the  fair  country  that 
nearly  two  centuries  later  became  our  territory  and  state.  The 
first  of  white  men  within  the  area  of  this  commonwealth,  their 
landing  at  Prairie  island  in  the  spring  of  1655,  with  a  large 
company  of  Indians,  who  were  met  by  others  of  their  exiled 
tribesmen  already  establishing  their  homes  on  the  island,  is  a 
subject  well  worthy  of  the  painter's  skill,  and  well  deserving  to  be 
always  kept  in  mind  as  one  of  the  grandest  scenes  in  all  our 


GROSEILLIEBS   AND  KADISSOK  203 

state  history.  Beside  it,  in  our  review  of  the  great  stages  of 
progress  of  Minnesota.,  we  should  place  the  picture  of  the  Treaty 
of  Traverse  des  Sioux,  by  which  treaty,  under  Governor  Eam- 
sey  and  Luke  Lea,  our  Territory  acquired  from  the  red  men  so 
great  a  part  of  its  area  for  the  white  men's  farms,  towns,  and 
cities,  and  for  all  that  belongs  to  the  progressing  civilization  of 
our  Anglo-Saxon  people, 

"The  heir  of  all  the  ages,  in  the  foremost  files  of  time." 


Chapter  VII. 
DU  LUTH  AND  HENNEPIN. 

EXPLOKATIONS   OF  DU  LUTH  IN  MINNESOTA. 

THE  next  explorer  who  attained  historic  renown  in  aid- 
ing to  found  the  dominion  and  traffic  of  the  French 
with  the  Indians  in  the  area  of  Minnesota  was  Daniel 
C4reysolon  Du  Luth,  whose  name  was  also  often  spelled  in  other 
ways,  as  Lu  Lhut,  Du  Lhud,  and  Du  Lud.  It  seems  most  suit- 
able in  this  chapter  to  adopt  the  spelling  here  first  given,  which, 
written  as  a  single  word,  is  borne  in  his  honor  by  the  large 
city  of  Duluth,  built  on  or  near  the  site  of  his  great  convocation 
of  many  Indian  tribes  in  the  early  autumn  of  1679. 

Harrisse  informs  us  that  Du  Lnth  was  born  at  St.  Germain- 
en-Laye,  a  few  miles  west  of  Paris,  that  he  had  two  brothers 
who  held  important  positions  in  Canada,  and  that  he  was  a 
cousin  of  Tonty,  who  was  most  intimately  associated  with  La 
Salle  in  his  explorations  of  the  Great  Lakes  and  the  Illinois  and 
Mississippi  rivers.  After  making  two  voyages  to  Canada,  Du 
Luth  served  in  the  French  army  in  Belgium  and  was  in  the 
battle  of  Senef,  August  11,  1674,  but  soon  afterwards  returned 
to  Canada. 

Under  the  noon  day  shadow  of  the  great  church  of  Notre 
Dame,  in  Montreal,  a  tablet  is  set,  at  the  northeast  corner  of 
Notre  Dame  and  St.  Sulpice  streets,  which  reads:  "In  1675, 
here  lived  Daniel  de  Gresolon,  Sieur  Dulhut,  one  of  the  Explor- 
ers of  the  Upper  Mississippi,  after  whom  the  City  of  Duluth  was 
named. " 

205 


206  MINNESOTA  IN  THHEE  CBNTUBIES. 

In  the  autumn  of  1678,  with  seven  Frenchmen,  iJu  Luth" 
made  the  canoe  journey  to  Lake  Superior,  for  the  purpose  of  ex- 
ploring the  country  farther  west,  occupied  by  the  Sioux  and 
Assiniboines,  among  whom  he  spent  the  next  two  years,  endeavor- 
ing to  bring  them  into  alliance  with  the  French  for  fur  trading. 
In  the  summer  of  the  second  year,  1680,  Du  Luth  met  Hennepin 
and  his  two  French  companions  and  secured  their  liberation  from 
captivity  with  the  Sioux  of  Mille  Lacs. 

During  several  years  previous  to  this  far  western  expedition 
of  Du  Luth,  many  of  the  young  men  in  the  French  colonies  on 
the  St.  Lawrence,  attracted  by  the  profits  and  adventures  of  trad- 
ing with  the  Indians,  had  left  the  white  settlements,  although 
rigorous  laws  against  such  desertion  of  their  homes  were  enacted. 
Du  Luth  was  accused  of  being  a  leader  in  this  prohibited  move- 
ment, which  is  described  by  Parkman  as  follows: 

Out  of  the  beaver -trade  rose  a  huge  evil,  baneful  to  the  growth 
and  the  morals  of  Canada.  All  that  was  most  active  and  vigorous  in 
the  colony  took  to  the  woods,  and  escaped  from  the  control  of  in- 
tendants,  councils,  and  priests,  to  the  savage  freedom  of  the  wilder- 
ness. Not  only  were  the  possible  profits  great;  but,  in  the  pursuit 
of  them,  there  was  a  fascinating  element  of  adventure  and  danger.  The 
bushrangers,  or  coureurs  de  bois,  were  to  the  King  an  object  of  horror. 
They  defeated  his  plans  for  the  increase  of  the  population,  and  shocked 
his  native  instinct  of  discipline  and  order.  Edict  after  edict  was  di- 
rected against  them;  and  more  than  once  the  colony  presented  the  ex- 
traordinary spectacle  of  the  greater  part  of  its  young  men  turned  into 
forest  outlaws.  *  *  *  The  famous  Du  Lhut  is  said  to  have  made 
a  general  combination  of  the  young  men  of  Canada  to  follow  him  into 
the  woods.  Their  plan  was  to  be  absent  four  years,  in  order  that 
the  edicts  against  them  might  have  time  to  relent.  The  intendant 
Duchesneau  reported  that  eight  hundred  men  out  of  a  population  of 
less  than  ten  thousand  souls  had  vanished  from  sight  in  the  immensity 
of  a  boundless  wilderness. 

In  his  own  defense  from  this  accusation,  Du  Luth,  having  re- 
turned to  France,  addressed  the  Marquis  de  Seignelay,  Minister 
of  the  Marine,  giving  a  report  of  his  formal  claims  of  the  French 
sovereignty  and  his  peace  treaties  with  the  Indians  to  secure  this 
northwestern  country  for  the  French  fur  trade.  In  the  same  re- 
port he  told  also  of  his  aid  extended  to  Hennepin  and  hi?  com- 


DU  LUTH  AND  HENNEPIN.  207 

panions,  rescuing  them  from  the  Sioux  who  had  taken  them  as 
captives  to  the  vicinity  of  Mille  Lacs,  whence  Du  Luth  conducted 
them  by  the  long  canoe  voyage  down  the  Mississippi  and  by  way 
of  the  Wisconsin  and  Fox  rivers  to  Green  bay  and  Mackinaw. 
The  original  French  text  of  this  report  was  published  by  Harrisse 
in  1872.  As  translated  by  Shea  and  published  in  1880  in  the  ap- 
pendix of  his  edition  of  Hennepin's  "Description  of  Louisiana," 
Du  Luth  wrote  of  these  grand  and  patriotic  services  for  France  as 
follows : 

After  having  made  two  voyages  fr.om  here  to  New  France,  where 
all  the  people  there  were  there  did  not  believe  it  possible  to  discover 
the  country  of  the  Nadouecioux,  nor  have  any  trade  with  them,  both 
on  account  of  their  remoteness,  which  is  more  than  800  leagues  from 
our  settlements,  and  because  they  were  generally  at  war  with  all  kinds 
of  nations,  this  difficulty  made  me  form  the  resolution  to  go  among 
them,  a  project  which  I  "could  not  then  carry  out,  my  affairs  having 
compelled  me  to  return  to  this  country,  where  after  having  made  the 
campaign  of  Franche  Comte  and  the  Battle  of  Senef,  where  I  had  th'e 
honor  of  being  a  gendarme  in  his  Majesty's  guard,  and  squire  of  the 
Marquis  de  Lassay,  our  ensign,  I  set  out  to  return  to  Quebec,  where 
I  had  no  sooner  arrived,  than  the  desire  which  I  had  already  had  to 
carry  out  this  design  increased,  and  I  began  to  take  steps  to  make 
myself  known  to  the  Indians.  Who  having  assured  me  of  their  friend- 
ship, and  in  proof  thereof  given  me  three  slaves,  whom  I  had  asked 
from  them  only  to  accompany  me,  I  set  out  from  Montreal  with  them 
and  seven  Frenchmen  on  the  first  of  September  in  the  year  1678  to 
endeavor  to  make  the  discovery  of  the  Nadouecioux  and  Assenipoualaks 
[the  Sioux  and  Assiniboines],  who  were  unknown  to  us,  and  to  make 
them  make  peace  with  all  the  nations  around  Lake  Superior,  who  live 
under  the  sway  of  our  invincible  monarch. 

I  do  not  think  that  such  a  departure  could  give  occasion  to  any 
one  whatever  to  charge  me  with  having  contravened  the  orders  of  the 
King  in  the  year  1676,  since  he  merely  forbid  all  his  subjects  to  go 
into  the  remote  forests,  there  to  trade  with  the  Indians.  This  I  have 
never  done,  nor  have  I  even  wished  to  take  any  presents  from  them, 
although  they  have  repeatedly  thrown  them  to  me,  which  I  have  al- 
ways refused  and  left,  in  order  that  no  one  might  tax  me  with  having 
carried  on  any  indirect  trade. 

On  the  2d  of  July,  1679,  I  had  the  honor  to  plant  his  Majesty's 
arms  in  the  great  village  of  the  Nadouecioux,  called  Izatys,  where  never 
had  a  Frenchman  been,  no  more  than  at  the  Songaskitons  and  Houet- 
batons,  distant  six  score  leagues  from  the  former,  where  I  also  planted 
his  majesty's  arms,  in  the  same  year  1679. 


208  MINNESOTA  IX  THREE  CENTURIES. 

On  the  15th  of  September,  having  given  the  Agrenipoulaks  ;> 
as  all  the  other  northern  nations  a  rendezvous  at  the  extremity  of  Lake 
Superior  to  induce  them  to  make  peace  with  the  Nadouecioux,  thoir 
common  enemy,  they  were  all  there,  and  I  was  happy  enough  to  gain 
their  esteem  and  friendship,  to  unite  them  together,  and,  in  order  that 
the  peace  might  be  lasting  among  them,  I  thought  that  I  could  not 
cement  it  better  than  by  inducing  the  nations  to  make  reciprocal  mar- 
riages with  each  other.  This  I  could  not  effect  without  great  expense. 
The  following  winter  I  made  them  hold  meetings  in  the  woods,  which 
I  attended,  in  order  that  they  might  hunt  together,  give  banquets,  and 
by  this  means  contract  a  closer  friendship. 

The  presents  which  it  cost  me  to  induce  the  Indians  to  go  down 
to  Montreal,  who  had  been  diverted  by  the  Openagaux  and  Abenaki*  nt 
the  instigation  of  the  English  and  Dutch,  who  made  them  believe  that 
the  plague  raged  in  the  French  settlements,  and  that  it  had  spread 
as  far  as  Nipissingue,  where  most  of  the  Nipissiriniens  had  died  of  it, 
have  also  entailed  a  greater  expense. 

In  June,  1680,  not  being  satisfied  with  having  made  my  discovery 
by  land,  I  took  two  canoes  with  an  Indian  who  was  my  interpreter 
and  four  Frenchmen,  to  seek  means  to  make  it  by  water.  With  this 
view  I  entered  a  river  [the  Brule]  which  empties  eight  leagues  from 
the  extremity  of  Lake  Superior  on  the  south  side,  where  after  having 
cut  some  trees  and  broken  about  a  hundred  beaver  dams,  I  reached  the 
upper  waters  of  the  said  river,  and  then  I  made  a  portage  of  half 
a  league  to  reach  a  lake,  the  outlet  of  which  fell  into  a  very  fine 
river  [the  St.  Croix],  which  took  me  down  into  the  Mississippi.  Being 
there,  I  learned  from  eight  cabins  of  Nadouecioux,  whom  I  met,  that 
the  Reverend  Father  Louis  Henpin,  Recollect,  now  at  the  convent  of 
St.  Germain,  with  two  other  Frenchmen,  had  been  robbed  and  carried 
off  as  slaves  for  more  than  300  leagues  by  the  Nadouecioux  them- 
selves. 

This  intelligence  surprised  me  so  much  that,  without  hesitating,  I 
left  two  Frenchmen  with  these  said  eight  cabins  of  Indians,  as  well  as 
the  goods  which  I  had  to  make  presents,  and  took  one  of  the  said 
Indians,  to  whom  I  made  a  present  to  guide  me  with  my  interpreter 
and  two  Frenchmen  to  where  the  said  Reverend  Father  Louis  was,  and 
as  it  was  a  good  80  leagues  I  proceeded  in  canoe  two  days  and  two 
nights,  and  the  next  day  at  ten  o'clock  in  the  morning  I  found  him 
with  about  1000  or  1100  souls.  The  want  of  respect  which  they  showed 
to  the  said  Reverend  Father  provoked  me,  and  this  I  showed  them, 
telling  them  that  he  was  my  brother,  and  I  had  him  placed  in  my 
canoe  to  come  with  me  into  the  villages  of  the  said  Nadouecioux, 
whither  I  took  him,  and  in  which,  a  week  after  our  arrival  there,  I 
caused  a  council  to  be  convened,  exposing  the  ill  treatment  which 
they  had  been  guilty  of  both  to  the  said  Reverend  Father  and  to  the 


DU  LUTH  AXD  HEXXEPIN.  209 

other  two  Frenchmen  who  were  with  him,  having  robbed  them  and 
carried  them  off  as  slaves,  and  even  taken  the  priestly  vestments  of 
the  said  Reverend  Father.  I  had  two  calumets  which  they  had  danced 
to  them,  returned  to  them,  on  account  of  the  insult  which  they  had 
offered  them,  being  what  they  hold  most  in  esteem  among  them  to 
appease  matters,  telling  them  that  I  did  not  take  calumets  from  people, 
who  after  they  had  seen  me  and  received  my  peace  presents,  and  been 
for  a  year  always  with  Frenchmen,  robbed  them  when  they  \vent  to 
visit  them. 

Each  one  in  the  council  endeavored  to  throw  the  blame  from  him- 
self, but  their  excuses  did  not  prevent  my  telling  the  Reverend  Father 
Louis  that  he  would  have  to  come  with  me  towards  the  Outagamys 
[the  Fox  Indians],  as  he  did,  showing  him  that  it  would  be  to  strike 
a  blow  at  the  French  nation  in  a  new  discovery,  to  suffer  an  insult 
of  this  nature  without  manifesting  resentment,  although  my  design 
was  to  push  on  to  the  sea  in  a  west-northwesterly  direction,  which  is 
that  which  is  believed  to  be  the  Red  Sea  [Gulf  of  California],  whence 
the  Indians  who  had  gone  warring  on  that  side  gave  salt  to  three 
Frenchmen  whom  I  had  sent  exploring,  and  who  brought  me  said  salt, 
having  reported  to  me  that  the  Indians  had  told  them  that  it  was 
only  twenty  days'  journey  from  where  they  were  to  find  the  great 
lake  of  which  the  waters  were  worthless  to  drink.  This  has  made  me 
believe  that  it  would  not  be  absolutely  difficult  to  find  it,  if  permis- 
sion would  be  given  to  go  there.  However,  I  preferred  to  retrace  my 
steps,  manifesting  to  them  the  just  indignation  which  I  felt  against 
them,  rather  than  to  remain  after  the  violence  which  they  had  done 
to  the  Reverend  Father  and  the  other  two  Frenchmen  who  were  with 
him,  whom  I  put  in  my  canoes  and  brought  them  back  to  the  Michel- 
imakinak  [Mackinaw],  a  mission  of  the  Reverend  Jesuit  Fathers,  where, 
while  wintering  together,  I  learned  that,  far  from  being  approved  for 
what  I  was  doing,  consuming  my  property  and  risking  my  life  daily, 
I  was  regarded  as  the  chief  of  a  band,  although  I  never  had  more  than 
eight  men  with  me.  It  was  not  necessary  to  tell  me  more  to  induce 
me  to  set  out  over  the  ice  on  the  29th  of  March  in  the  year  1681,  with 
the  said  Reverend  Father  and  two  other  Fernchmen,  having  our  canoe? 
and  provisions  dragged  along,  in  order  to  reach  our  settlements  as  soon 
as  possible,  and  to  make  manifest  the  uprightness  of  my  conduct, 
having  never  been  in  a  humor  to  wish  myself  withdrawn  from  the 
obedience  which  is  due  to  the  King's  orders. 

I  accordingly  proceeded  to  our  settlements  three  months  before 
the  amnesty,  which  it  has  pleased  his  majesty  to  grant  to  his  subjects 
who  might  have  contravened  his  orders,  had  arrived,  but  the  Intendant 
was  unwilling  to  hear  any  request  that  I  might  have  been  able  to 
present  to  him. 

I.-12 


210  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 

As  to  the  manner  in  which  I  lived  on  my  voyage,  it  would  be 
superfluous  for  me  to  expatiate  on  the  subject  and  to  annoy  your 
Cr.uo  by  a  long  story,  being  convinced  that  thirteen  original  letters 
of  the  Reverend  Nouvel,  Superior  of  the  Outaouais  missions,  the  Rev- 
erend Father  Enjelran,  missionary  of  St.  Francis  de  Borgias,  the  Rev- 
cirml  Father  Bailloquet,  missionary  of  Ste.  Marie  du  Saiilt.  and  the 
Reverend  Father  Pierson,  missionary  of  the  Hurons  at  St.  Ignace,  all 
Jesuits,  will  suffice  on  the  whole  to  inform  your  Grace  amply  and  fully. 

Like  Perrot  and  Le  Sueur  in  southern  Minnesota,  Du  Luth 
in  the  Lake  Superior  region  had  great  influence  among  the 
Indians,  which  he  exerted  to  promote  peace  and  to  prevent  them 
from  alliances  in  trade  with  the  English  of  Hudson  bay.  In  the 
winter  of  1683-84  he  was  at  a  trading  post  on  or  near  the  site  of 
Fort  William  and  Port  Arthur;  and  the  next  June  he  was  at 
Lake  Nipigon,  as  also  again  in  1686. 

From  his  experience  with  the  Indians,  Du  Luth  advised  the 
prohibition  of  the  sal£  of  intoxicating  liquor  to  them,  as  is 
shown  by  the  following  certificate,  which  is  still  preserved  in 
the  early  French  Archives  of  Canada: 

I  certify  that  at  different  periods  I  have  lived  almost  ten  years 
among  the  Ottawa  nation,  from  the  time  that  I  made  an  exploration 
to  the  Nadouecioux  people,  until  Fort  Saint  Joseph  was  established  by 
order  of  the  Monsieur  Marquis  Denonville,  Governor  General,  at  the 
head  of  the  Detroit  of  Lake  Erie,  which  is  in  the  Iroquois  country, 
and  which  I  had  the  honor  to  command. 

During  this  period  I '  have  seen  that  the  trade  in  eau  de  vie 
[brandy]  produced  great  disorders,  the  father  killing  the  son,  and  the 
son  throwing  his  mother  into  the  fire;  and  I  maintain  that,  morally 
speaking,  it  is  impossible  to  export  brandy  to  the  woods  and  distant 
missions,  without  danger  of  its  producing  misery. 

The  late  Judge  John  R.  Carey,  of  Duluth,  in  a  paper  pub- 
lished by  the  Minnesota  Historical  Society,  summed  up  his 
estimation  of  Duluth  as  follows:  "Suffice  it  to  say  that  he  was 
a  leader  of  men,  a  man  of  unblemished  moral  character  and 
undaunted  courage,  a  hater  -of  the  whisky  traffic  among  the 
Indians,  a  resolute  and  true  soldier,  and  a  fearless  supporter 
and  vindicator  of  law  and  order." 

Vaudreuil,  the  governor  of  Canada,  in  a  colonial  report  to 
France,  dated  at  Quebec  the  first  of  May,  1710,  mentioned  the 


DU  LUTH  AND  HENNEPIN.  211 

death  of  Du  Luth  laconically,  but  with  high  appreciation  of 
his  character:  "Captain  Du  Lud  died  this  winter;  he  was  a 
very  honest  man." 

The  exact  date  of  Du  Luth's  death,  in  the  night  of  Feb- 
ruary 25-26,  1710,  at  his  rented  home  on  the  site  of  No.  GO 
St.  Paul  Street,  Montreal,  and  many  particulars  of  his  life  and 
achievements,  and  especially  of  his  last  days  and  his  will,  recently 
found,  are  given  by  William  McLennan  in  a  very  interesting 
paper  read  May  19,  1903,  before  the  Royal  Society  of  Canada, 
as  published  in  its  Proceedings  and  Transactions  (Second  Ser- 
ies, Volume  IX,  Section  II,  pages  39-47,  1903).  This  paper 
closes  with  the  following  estimate  of  Du  Lutli:  "He  was  a  man 
of  good  judgment,  of  firm  resolution,  of  strong  faith  and  friend- 
ship, singularly  modest  in  a  day  when  self-assertion  seemed  a 
necessity  for  recognition;  a  man  who  under  constant  disappoint- 
ment and  great  physical  suffering  was  supported  by  a  marvel- 
lous patience  that  endured  until  the  hour  of  release." 

EXPLORATIONS     OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    BY    JOLIET 
AND   MARQUETTE   AND   BY    LA    SALLE. 

The  knowledge  of  the  upper  Mississippi  acquired  by 
Groseilliers  and  Radisson  in  1655-56  and  1660  was  concealed, 
as  noted  in  the  preceding  chapter,  though  they  had  seen  this 
river  along  nearly  all  its  course  from  the  mouth  of  the  Rum 
river  to  that  of  the  Wisconsin.  Thence  southward  to  the  lower 
Mississippi  which  had  been  navigated  by  the  Spaniards  in  the 
ill-fated  expedition  of  De  Soto  and  his  successor,  Moscoso,  in 
1541  to  1543,  there  remained  a  long  unexplored  section,  ex- 
tending through  nine  degrees  of  latitude. 

This  large  central  part  of  the  course  of  the  Mississippi  was 
first  traversed  by  white  men  in  the  summer  of  1673,  when  the 
canoes  of  Louis  Joliet,  a  young  but  skilled  explorer,  delegated 
by  Frontenac  to  this  enterprise,  and  the'  Christian  hero,  Father 
Jacques  Marquette,  passed  down  the  great  river  from  the  Wis- 
consin to  the  Arkansas,  and  returned,  partly  by  the  same  route, 
and  along  the  Illinois  river,  to  Lake  Michigan.  The  most  south- 


212  MINNESOTA  IN  TIII.'KK  CENTTJBIES. 


ern  Indian  villages  reached  by  this  expedition  were 
mi  the  west  side  of  the  Mississippi,  not  far  above  the  While 
and  Arkansas  rivers,  and  Akansea,  on  the  east  side,  nearly 
opposite  to  these  large  tributaries.  As  remarked  by  I>.  !•'. 
French,  the  former  village  was  perhaps  on  the  site  of  Aminoya, 
whence  Moscoso  descended  the  Mississippi;  and  the  latter  near 
Guachoya,  where  De  Soto  died,  but  on  the  opposite  shore  of  the 
river.  With  Marquette's  exceedingly  interesting  narrative  of 
this  voyage,  we  have  his  map,  a  pen  sketch,  giving  the  course 
of  the  Mississippi  so  far  as  it  was  seen  by  him,  and  markiiur 
its  chief  affuents,  the  Des  Monies.  Missouri,  and  Arkansas,  on 
the  west,  and  the  Wisconsin,  Illinois,  and  Ohio,  on  the 

Joliet  and  Marquette  turned  back  at  Akansea,  through  fear 
of  Spaniards  or  the  Indian  tribes  beyond.  They  had  gone  far 
enough  to  prove  the  Mississippi  a  tributary  of  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico;  to  discover  its  vast  prairies  as  a  most  fertile  countn. 
abounding  with  buffalo  herds;  and  to  learn  of  many  aboriginal 
tribes,  among  whom  these  pioneers  went  as  friends,  opening 
the  way  for  founding  trading  posts  and  Christian  missions. 
Through  their  narratives  and  maps,  it  soon  became  known  to 
their  countrymen  that  the  Mississippi  basin  was  an  unclaimed 
empire,  well  worthy  of  every  effort  to  secure  it  for  France. 

The  whole  country  of  the  Mississippi,  from  the  Gulf  to  the 
lakes  forming  its  sources,  was  christened  Louisiana,  for  the 
French  monarch,  and  claimed  for  his  sovereignty,  by  Eobert 
Cavelier,  commonly  known,  under  a  title  referring  to  his  land 
estate,  as  the  Sieur  de  la  Salle,  who,  on  the  great  southern 
prairies,  commanded  a  small  company  of  xealous  explorers.  La 
Salle  did  not  know  very  definitely  of  the  previous  Spanish  ex- 
plorations by  Pineda,  Narvaez,  and  De  Soto  and  Moscoso;  and 
hi  deliberately  ignored  them,  so  far  as  they  might  confer  upon 
Spain  any  rights  of  territorial  ownership.  He  thought  that  the 
^n-ai  river  named  by  the  Spaniards  the  TJio  del  Espiritu  Santo 
(I.'iver  of  the  Holy  Spirit)  might  lie  east  of  the  one  which  he 
followed  to  the  sea. 

Leaving  the  Illinois  river  February  13th,  1682,  La  Salle 
and  his  company  of  about  fifty  French  and  Indians  proceeded 


DU  LUTH  AND  HENNEPIN.  213 

slowly  down  the  Mississippi,,  limiting  and  fishing  almost  every 
day  to  supply  themselves  food,  and  visiting  with  the  numerous 
Indian  tribes.  April  Gth  they  arrived  at  the  head  of  the  passes, 
or  branches  of  the  river,  in  the  delta,  where  the  mighty  stream 
divides  into  three  channels,  each  of  which  was  examined  and 
reported  to  be  suitable  for  navigation, 

The  proudest  hour  in  the  life  of  La  Salle,  among  all  his 
great  efforts  for  the  glory  of  France  and  extension  of  her  do- 
minion, was  when,  on  the  ninth  day  of  April,  1682,  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Mississippi,  or  Eiver  Colbert,  he  erected  a  wooden 
column  and  a  cross,  affixing  upon  the  column  the  arms  of 
France,  with  an  inscription,  "Louis  the  Great,  King  of  France 
and  of  Navarre,  Keigns."  The  Te  Deum  and  other  hymns  of 
thanksgiving  and  loyalty  were  sung,  and  La  Salle  proclaimed,  in 
a  loud  voice,  that  he  took  possession  of  the  vast  geographic 
basin  drained  by  the  Mississippi  for  the  King  of  France,  while 
his  lieutenant,  Tonty,  Father  Membre,  and  twenty  other  French- 
men shouted,  "Vive  le  Eoi."  La  Salle  called  the  new  realm 
Louisiane.  The  greater  part  of  it,  lying  west  of  the  Mississippi, 
was  purchased  from  Napoleon  by  the  United  States  in  1803, 
under  the  name  Louisiana,  including  the  western  two-thirds  of 
the  area  of  Minnesota. 

Accounts  of  this  expedition  were  written  by  La  Salle, 
Tonty,  and  Membre,  and  in  recent  times  much  biographic  in- 
formation concerning  La  Salle  has  been  published  by  Sparks, 
Parkman,  and  Margry;  but  no  map  of  the  Mississippi  drafted 
at  that  time  has  come  down  to  us.  In  following  all  the  wind- 
ing course  of  the  river,  it  would  indeed  have  been  a  very  diffi- 
cult task  to  map  it  with  general  accuracy.  It  was  thought  to 
trend  westward  so  that  its  mouths  would  not  coincide  with  the 
Eiver  Espiritu  Santo  of  the  Spanish  coastal  charts,  but  rather 
with  some  other  of  the  several  rivers  entering  the  •  gulf  farther 
west. 

Two  years  before  La  Salle's  exploration  of  the  Mississippi  in 
its  lower  course,  he  had  sent  a  canoe  party  of  three  Frenchmen 
from  his  Fort  Crevecoeur  on  the  Illinois,  to  explore  upward  from 
the  mouth  of  that  river.  The  party  consisted  of  Michael  Accault 


214  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 

(or  Ako),  the  leader;  Anthony  Auguelle,  who  was  a  native  of 
Picardy;  and  Father  Louis  Hennepin,  a  Franciscan  missionary, 
who  became  the  historian  of  the  expedition. 

BIOGRAPHIC  SKETCH  OF  HEXNEPIN. 

Louis  Hennepin  was  born  in  Belguim  about  the  year  1640. 
He  entered  the  order  of  the  Recollects  of  St.  Francis,  probably 
in  his  early  youth;  spent  many  years  in  services  of  that  order  in 
France,  Belgium,  Holland,  Italy,  and  Germany;  and  was  present, 
as  a  regimental  chaplain,  at  the  battle  of  Senef,  in  1674.  The 
next  year  he  sailed  to  Canada,  in  the  same  ship  with  Laval,  the 
bishop  of  the  newly  established  see  of  Quebec,  and  La  Salle,  des- 
tined to  be  the  greatest  explorer  of  New  France,  arriving  at 
Quebec  in  September.  In  1678  Hennepin  joined  La  Salle's  ex- 
pedition for  exploration  of  lakes  Ontario,  Erie,  Huron,  and 
Michigan,  and  the  Illinois  and  Mississippi  rivers. 

After  his  travels,  to  be  partly  here  narrated,  Hennepin  re- 
turned to  France,  probably  in  the  autumn  of  1681.  His  first 
book,  "Description  of  Louisiana,"  dedicated  to  the  King  of 
France,  was  issued  in  Paris  in  1683;  and  within  the  next  six 
years  translations  of  it  were  published  in  Italian,  Dutch,  and 
German.  His  second  book,  "New  Discovery  of  a  very  great 
Country,  situated  in  America/'  was  published  in  French  at 
Utrecht,  Holland,  in  1697,  with  dedication  to  the  King  of  Eng- 
land. Within  the  next  forty  years  seven  other  French  editions  of 
this  work  appeared;  and  it  was  translated  into  Dutch,  German, 
Spanish,  and  English.  The  fraudulent  addition  to  this  second 
work,  wherein  it  is  asserted  that  Hennepin  voyaged  down  the 
Mississippi  to  its  mouth  in  1680,  previous  to  his  voyage  north 
into  the  area  of  Minnesota,  will  be  considered  in  a  later  part  of 
this  chapter. 

It  is  not  known  when  or  where  Hennepin  died ;  but  it  was 
after  the  first  of  March,  1701,  under  which  date  he  was  men- 
tioned in  a  letter  from  Rome,  as  being  then  in  a  convent  in  that 
citv. 


DU  LUTH  AND  HEXXEPIN.  215 

TBAVE.LS    OF    HENNEPIN    ON    THE    UPPER 
MISSISSIPPI. 

The  exploring  party  sent  by  La  Salle  to  the  upper  Mis- 
sissippi, namely,  Accault,  Auguelle,  and  Hennepin,  started  from 
Fort  Crevecoeur  on  the  last  day  of  February,  1680,  taking  in 
their  large  canoe  of  birch  bark  about  a  thousand  livres'  value  of 
goods  for  presents  among  the  tribes  that  they  would  meet.  In 
a  week  they  paddled  down  the  Illinois  to  its  mouth,  where  they 
were  detained  by  floating  ice  in  the  Mississippi  until  the  12th  of 
March.  When  nearly  a  month  had  been  spent  in  the  upward 
journey  on  the  Mississippi,  they  were  met  in  the  afternoon  of 
April  llth  by  a  war  party  of  a  hundred  and  twenty  Dakota  or 
Sioux  Indians,  in  thirty-three  canoes,  who  made  the  Frenchmen 
captives.  The  Sioux  had  planned  an  attack  against  the  Miamis, 
but,  being  informed  by  Hennepin  that  their  Miami  enemies  had 
-"d  the  Mississippi  and  were  beyond  their  reach,  they  now 
turned  back  and  brought  their  French  captives  up  the  river  to 
the  vicinity  of  our  present  city  of  'St.  Paul.  Here  leaving  the 
river,  they  went  by  land  northward  to  the  villages  of  this  Isanti 
tribe  of  the  Sioux  in  the  region  of  Mille  Lacs,  where  they  ar- 
rived early  in  May  and  held  the  Frenchmen  in  captivity  until 
the  beginning  of  July. 

Permission  was  then  given  to  Hennepin  and  Auguelle,  the 
Pickard,  to  return  in  a  canoe  down  the  Mississippi  to  the  mouth 
of  the  Wisconsin  river,  where  they  hoped  to  find  a  reinforcement 
of  Frenchmen,  with  ammunition  and  other  goods,  which  La  Salle 
had  promised  to  send.  Meanwhile  Accault  was  left  in  captivity. 
On  this  return  voyage,  Hennepin  and  his  comrade  passed  the  falls 
of  St.  Anthony,  to  which  he  gave  this  name.  They  were  the 
first  white  men  known  to  have  seen  these  falls,  now  the  center  of 
the  largest  city  of  Minnesota.  About  a  week  later,  Hennepin 
was  overtaken,  before  reaching  the  Wisconsin  river,  by  some  of 
the  Isanti  warriors,  who  themselves  went  forward  to  the  mouth 
of  the  Wisconsin,  in  hope  to  meet  the  French  and  seize  their 
goods,  but  found  no  one  there. 


216  MINNESOTA    IN   THREE  CENTURIES. 

Afterward  the  Indians  and  the  Frenchmen  hunted  buffalo 
and  started  again  up  the  Mississippi,  when,  late  in  July,  they  met 
Du  Luth  and  several  French  soldiers,  who  had  come  from  Lake 
Superior  by  the  canoe  route  of  the  Brule  and  St.  Croix  rivers. 
They  all  Iheii  came  back  to  the  Isanti  villages  near  Mille  ! 
where  Du  Luth  the  previous  year  had  met  these  savages  in  coun- 
cil and  endeavored  to  inform  them  of  the  benefits  they  would 
receive  in  trading  with  the  French.  Du  Luth  sharply  repri- 
manded the  savages  for  their  captivity  of  Hennepin  and  his 
companions,  who  thenceforward  had  no  reason  to  complain  of 
their  treatment.  In  the  autumn,  on  pretense  of  bringing  goods 
to  establish  a  trading  post,  Du  Luth,  Hennepin,  and  the  other 
Frenchmen,  were  allowed  to  depart,  voyaging  from  Mille  Lacs 
down  the  Rum  river  (called  the  St.  Francis  by  Hennepin)  and 
the  Mississippi  to  the  Wisconsin  river,  and  thence  up  that  stream 
and  over  portages  to  Green  bay.  For  this  journey  the  chief  o£ 
the  Isanti  tribe  traced  the  route  on  a  paper  and  marked  its 
portages,  this  being  probably  the  earliest  mapping  of  any  part 
of  Minnesota. 

The  travels  and  captivity  of.  Hennepiu  are  very  interestingly 
related  by  Parkman  in  two  chapters  of  his  "La  Salle  and  the  Dis" 
covery  of  the  Great  West,"  based  on  Hennepin's  narration  in  his 
"Description  of  Louisiana."  It  will  be  best  for  us  to  present 
here  Hennepin's  own  words  from  this  first  book  written  by  him, 
published  in  1683,  quoting  from  its  translation  by  John  Gilmary 
Shea,  which  was  published  in  1880,  with  dedication  to  Arch- 
bishop Ireland  and  the  late  John  Fletcher  Williams,  who  were 
respectively  the  president  and  secretary  of  the  Minnesota  Histori- 
cal Society. 

Parts  of  the  narration  of  Hennepin,  describing  the  upper 
Mississippi  and  the  captivity  in  Minnesota,  are  as  follows: 

I  offered  to  undertake  this  voyage  to  endeavor  to  go  and  form  an 
acquaintance  with  the  nations  among  whom  I  hoped  soon  to  settle  in 
order  to  preach  the  faith.  The  Sieur  de  la  Salle  told  me  that  I 
gratified  him.  He  gave  me  a  peace  calumet  and  a  canoe  with  two  men, 
one  of  whom  [Anthony  Auguelle]  was  called  the  Pickard  du  Gay,  who 
is  now  in  Paris,  and  the  other  Michael  Ako.  He  entrusted  this  latter 
with  some  goods  intended  to  make  presents,  which  were  worth  a  thou- 


DU  LTJTH  AND  HENKEPIK  217 

sand  or  twelve  hundred  livres,  and  he  gave  me  ten  knives,  twelve  awls, 
a  small  roll  of  tobacco,  to  give  the  Indians,  about  two  pounds  of  black 
and  white  beads,  and  a  small  package  of  needles,  assuring  me  that 
he  would  have  given  me  more,  if  lie  had  been  able.  In  fact  he  is 
very  liberal  to  his  friends. 

*  *     *    We    set    out    from   Fort    Crevecoeur   the    29th    of   February, 
1680.     *     *     *     The    river    Seignelay     [the    Illinois],    on    \\1iich    \ve    wore 
sailing,  is  as  deep  and  broad  as  the  Seine  at  Paris,  and  in  two  or  three 
places    widens    out    to   a    quarter   of    a   league.     *     *     *     On    the    7th    of 
March,   we    found,    about   two   leagues    from    its    mouth,    a   nation    called 
Tamaroa,  or  Maroa,  composed  of  two  hundred  families.     *     *     * 

Soon  after  leaving  these  Indians,  we  came  to  the  mouth  of  the 
river  Seignelay,  fifty  leagues  distant  from  Fort  Crevecoeur,  and  about 
a  hundred  leagues  from  the  great  Islinois  village.  *  *  * 

The  ice  which  floated  down  from  the  north  kept  us  in  this  place 
till  the  12th  of  March,  whence  we  continued  our  route,  traversing  the 
river  and  sounding  on  all  sides  to  see  whether  it  was  navigable.  *  *  * 

The  River  Colbert  [the  Mississippi]  *  *  *  runs  between  two 
chains  of  mountains  [the  valley  bluffs],  very  small  here,  which  wind 
with  the  river,  and  in  some  places  are  pretty  far  from  the  banks,  so 
that  between  the  mountains  and  the  river  there  are  large  prairies, 
where  you  often  see  herds  of  wild  cattle  browsing.  In  other  places 
these  eminences  leave  semicircular  spots  covered  with  grass  or  wood. 
Beyond  these  mountains  you  discover  vast  plains,  but  the  more  we  ap- 
proach the  northern  side  ascending,  the  earth  did  not  appear  to  us  so 
fertile,  nor  the  woods  so  beautiful,  as  in  the  Islinois  country.  *  *  * 

*  *     *     The     lake     of     Tears     [since     called    Lake     Pepin]     *     *     * 
we    so   named,   because   the   Indians    who   had   taken    us,   wishing   to   kill 
us.    some    of    them    wept    the    whole    night,    to    induce    the    others    to 

, consent  to  our  death.  This  lake,  which  is  formed  by  the  river  Col- 
bert, is  seven  leagues  long,  and  about  four  wide. 

Continuing  to  ascend  this  river,  *  *  *  the  navigation  is  in- 
terrupted by  a  cataract  which  I  called  the  Falls  of  St.  Anthony  of 
Padua,  in  gratitude  for  the  favors  done  me  by  the  Almighty  through 
the  intercession  of  that  great  saint,  whom  we  had  chosen  patron  and 
protector  of  all  our  enterprises.  This  cataract  is  forty  or  fifty  feet 
high,  divided  in  the  midle  of  its  fall  by  a  rocky  island  of  pyramidal 
form.  *  *  * 

Lake  Buade  [Mille  Lacs],  or  Lake  of  the  Issati,  is  situated  about 
seventy  leagues  west  of  Lake  Conde  [Lake  Superior];  it  is  impossible 
to  go  from  one  to  the  other  by  land  on  account  of  the  marshy  and 
quaggy  nature  of  the  ground;  you  might  go.  though  with  difficulty,  on 
the  snow  in  snowshoes;  by  water  there  are  many  portages  and  it  is 
a  hundred  and  fifty  leagues,  on  account  of  the  many  turns  to  be 


218  MINNESOTA  IX  THEEE  CENTURIES. 

made.  From  Lake  Conde,  to  go  conveniently  in  canoe,  you  must  pass 
by  Tomb  river  [the  St.  Croix].  *  *  * 

In  the  neighborhood  of  Lake  Buade  are  many  other  lakes,  whence 
issue  several  rivers,  on  the  banks  of  which  live  the  Issati,  Xadoues~au<. 
Tinthonha  (which  means  prairie-men),  Oudebathon  River  People, 
Chongaskotlmn  (Dog  or  Wolf  tribe,  for  chonga  among  these  nation* 
means  dog  or  wolf),  and  other  tribes,  all  which  we  comprise  under  the 
name-  Xadonessiou.  These  Indians  number  eight  or  nine  thousand  war- 
rims,  very  brave,  great  runners,  and  very  good  bowmen.  It  was  by 
:i  part  of  these  tribes  that  I  and  our  two  canoemen  were  taken  in  the 
following  way. 

\Vc  scrupulously  said  our  morning  and  evening  prayers  every  day 
on  embarking,  and  the  Angelus  at  noon.  *  *  *  In  this  way  we  beg- 
ged of  God  to  meet  these  Indians  by  day,  for  when  they  discover 
people  at  night,  they  kill  them  as  enemies,  to  rob  those  whom  they 
murder  secretly  of  some  axes  or  knives  which  they  value  more  than 
w(-  do  gold  and  silver;  they  even  kill  their  own  allies,  when  they  can 
conceal  their  death,  so  as  afterward  to  boast  of  having  killed  men, 
and  thus  pass  for  soldiers. 

We  had  considered  the  river  Colbert  with  great  pleasure,  and  with- 
out hindrance,  to  know  whether  it  was  navigable  up  and  down :  we 
were  loaded  with  seven  or  eight  large  turkeys,  which  multiply  of 
themselves  in  these  parts.  We  wanted  neither  buffalo  nor  deer,  nor 
beaver,  nor  fish,  nor  bear  meat,  for  we  killed  those  animals  as  they 
swam  across  the  river. 

Our  prayers  were  heard  when,  on  the  llth  of  April,  1680,  at  two 
o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  we  suddenly  perceived  thirty-three  bark  can- 
oes, manned  by  a  hundred  and  twenty  Indians,  coming  down  with  ex- 
traordinary speed,  to  make  war  on  the  iliamis.  Islinois.  and  Maroha. 
These  Indians  surrounded  us,  and  while  at  a  distance  discharged  some 
arrows  at  us;  but  as  they  approached  our  canoe  the  old  men,  seeing 
us  with  the  calumet  of  peace  in  our  hands,  prevented  the  young  men 
from  killing  us.  These  brutal  men,  leaping  from  their  canoes,  some 
on  land,  others  into  the  water,  with  frightful  cries  and  yells  ap- 
proached us,  and  as  we  made  no  resistance,  being  only  three  against 
so  great  a  number,  one  of  them  wrenched  our  calumet  from  our  hands, 
while  our  canoe  and  theirs  were  made  fast  to  the  shore.  We  first 
presented  them  a  piece  of  Petun  or  French  tobacco,  better  for  smoking 
than  theirs,  and  the  eldest  among  them  uttered  these  words.  Miamiha, 
Miamiha.  As  we  did  not  understand  their  language,  we  took  a  little 
stick,  and,  by  signs  which  we  made  on  the  sand,  showed  them  that 
thoir  enemies,  the  Miamis  whom  they  sought,  had  fled  across  the  river 
Colbert  to  join  the  Islinois;  when  they  saw  themselves  discovered  and 
unable  to  surprise  their  enemies,  three  or  four  old  men,  laying  their 
hands  on  my  head,  wept  in  a  lugubrious  tone,  and  I  with  a  wretched 


DU  LUTH  AND  HENNEPIN.  219 

handkerchief  I  had  left,  wiped  away  their  tears.  These  savages  would 
not  smoke  our  peace -calumet.  They  made  us  cross  the  river  with  great 
cries,  which  all  shouted  together  with  tears  in  their  eyes;  they  made 
us  paddle  before  them,  and  we  heard  yells  capable  of  striking  the 
most  resolute  with  terror.  After  landing  our  canoe  and  our  goods, 
some  parts  of  which  they  had  already  stolen,  we  made  a  fire  to  boil 
our  kettle;  we  gave  them  two  large  wild  turkeys  that  we  had  killed. 

These  savages  having  called  their  assembly  to  deliberate  on  what 
they  were  to  do  with  us,  the  two  head  chiefs  of  the  party,  approaching, 
showed  us  by  signs  that  the  warriors  wished  to  tomahawk  us.  This 
compelled  me  to  go  to  the  war  chiefs  with  one  of  my  men,  leaving 
the  other  by  our  property,  and  throw  into  their  midst  six  axes,  fifteen 
knives,  and  six  fathom  of  our  black  tobacco;  then  bowing  down  my 
head,  I  showed  them,  with  an  axe,  that  they  might  tomahawk  us,  if 
they  thought  proper.  This  present  appeased  several  individuals  among 
them,  who  gave  us  some  beaver  to  eat,  putting  the  three  first  morsels 
into  our  mouth  according  to  the  custom  of  the  country,  and  blowing 
on  the  meat  which  was  too  hot,  before  putting  their  bark  dish  before 
us,  to  let  us  eat  as  we  liked.  We  spent  the  night  in  anxiety,  because 
before  retiring  at  night  they  had  returned  us  our  peace -calumet.  ' 
*  *  In  our  uncertainty,  we  watched  one  after  the  other,  so  as  not 
to  be  surprised  asleep. 

In  the  morning,  April  12th,  one  of  their  captains  named  Narrhe- 
toba,  with  his  face  and  bare  body  smeared  with  paint,  asked  me  for 
our  peace-calumet,  filled  it  with  tobacco  of  his  country,  made  all  his 
band  smoke  first,  and  then  all  the  others  who  plotted  our  ruin.  He 
then  gave  us  to  understand  that  we  must  go  back  with  them  to  their 
country,  and  they  all  turned  back  with  us,  having  thus  broken  off 
their  voyage.  I  was  not  sorry  in  this  conjuncture  to  continue  our 
discoveries  with  these  people.  But  the  greatest  trouble  I  had  was, 
that  I  found  it  difficult  to  say  my  office  [daily  portion  of  the  breviary] 
before  these  savages,  many  of  whom  seeing  me  move  my  lips  said, 
in  a  fierce  tone,  Ouackanche;  and  as  we  did  not  know  a  word  of  their 
language,  we  believed  that  they  were  angry  at  it.  Michael  Ako,  all 
out  of  countenance,  told  me  that  if  I  continued  to  say  my  breviary  we 
should  all  three  be  killed,  and  the  Pickard  begged  me  at  least  to  con- 
ceal myself  for  my  devotions,  so  as  not  to  provoke  them  further.  I 
followed  the  latter's  advice,  but  the  more  I  concealed  myself,  the  more 
I  had  the  Indians  at  my  heels,  for  when  I  entered  the  wood,  they 
thought  I  was  going  to  hide  some  goods  under  ground,  so  that  I  never 
knew  on  what  side  to  turn  to  pray,  for  they  never  let  me  out  of  sight. 
This  obliged  me  to  beg  pardon  of  my  two  canoemen,  assuring  them 
that  I  ought  not  dispense  with  saying  my  office,  that,  if  we  were 
massacred  for  that,  I  should  be  the  innocent  cause  of  their  death,  as 
well  as  of  my  own.  By  the  word  Ouackanche  [Wakan-de,  "this  is 


220  .MINNESOTA   IN    TI1KKK  CENTUBIl 

wonderful  or  supernatural"],  those  savages  meant  that  the  book  I  was 
reading  was  a  spirit,  but  by  their  gesture  they  nevertheless  showed  a 
kind  of  aversion,  so  that,  to  accustom  them  to  it,  I  chanted  the 
Litany  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  in  the  canoe  with  my  book  open.  They 
thought  that  the  breviary  was  a  spirit  which  taught  me  to  sing  for 
their  diversion,  for  these  people  are  naturally  fond  of  singing. 

The  outrages  done  us  by  these  Indians  during  our  whole  route 
\,  ere  incredible,  for  seeing  that  our  canoe  Avas  much  larger  and  more 
lit-avily  laden  than  theirs  (for  they  have  only  a  quiver  full  of  arrows, 
a  bow,  and  a  wretched  dressed  skin,  to  serve  two  as  a  blanket  during 
the  night,  which  was  still  pretty  cold  at  that  season,  always  going 
north),  and  that  we  could  not  go  faster  than  they,  they  put  some  war- 
riors with  us  to  help  us  row,  to  oblige  us  to  follow  them.  These  In- 
dians sometimes  make  thirty  or  forty  leagues  by  water,  when  at  war 
and  pressed  for  time,  or  anxious  to  surprise  some  enemy.  Those  who 
had  taken  us  were  of  different  villages  and  of  different  opinions  as  to 
11- :  we  cabined  every  night  by  the  young  chief  who  had  asked  for  our 
peace -calumet,  and  put  ourselves  under  his  protection;  but  jealousy 
arose  among  these  Indians,  so  that  the  chief  of  the  party,  named 
Aquipaguetin,  one  of  whose  sons  had  been  killed  by  the  Miamis,  seeing 
that  he  could  not  avenge  his  death  on  that  nation  which  he  sought, 
turned  all  his  rage  on  us.  He  wept  through  almost  every  night  him 
he  had  lost  in  war,  to  oblige  those  who  had  come  out  to  avenge  him, 
to  kill  us  and  seize  all  we  had,  so  as  to  be  able  to  pursue  his  enemies; 
but  those  who  liked  European  goods  were  much  disposed  to  preserve 
us,  so  as  to  attract  other  Frenchmen  there  and  get  iron,  which  is 
extremely  precious  in  their  eyes;  but  of  which  they  knew  the  great 
utility  only  when  they  saw  one  of  our  French  canoemen  kill  three  or 
four  wild  geese  or  turkeys  at  a  single  gun  shot,  while  they  can  scarcely 
kill  even  one  with  an  arrow.  *  * 

We  had  some  design  of  proceeding  down  to  the  mouth  of  the 
river  Colbert,  which  more  probably  empties  into  the  Gulf  of  Mexico 
than  into  the  Red  sea  [gulf  of  California] ;  but  these  tribes,  that  seized 
us,  gave  us  no  time  to  sail  up  and  down  this  river. 

We  had  made  about  two  hundred  leagues  by  water  since  our  de- 
parture from  the  Islinois,  and  we  sailed  with  these  Indians  who  took 
us  during  nineteen  days,  sometimes  north,  sometimes  northwest,  accord- 
ing to  the  direction  which  the  river  took.  By  the  estimate  which  we 
formed,  since  that  time,  we  made  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  leagues, 
or  even  more,  on  Colbert  river;  for  these  Indians  paddle  with  groat 
force,  from  early  in  the  morning  till  evening,  scarcely  stopping  to  eat 
during  the  day.  To  oblige  us  to  keep  up  with  them,  they  gave  us  every 
day  four  or  five  men  to  increase  the  paddling  of  our  little  vessel,  which 
was  much  heavier  than  theirs.  Sometimes  we  cabined  when  it  rained, 
and  when  the  weather  was  not  bad  we  slept  on  the  ground  without 


DU  LUTH  AXD  HEXXEPIN.  221 

any  shelter.  We  had  all  the  time  to  contemplate  the  stars  and  the 
moon  when  it  shone.  Notwithstanding  the  fatigue  of  the  day,  the 
youngest  of  these  Indian  warriors  danced  the  calumet  to  four  or  five 
of  their  chiefs  till  midnight.  *  *  *  Notwithstanding  the  force  of 
their  yelling,  the  fatigue  of  the  day,  the  watching  by  night,  the  old 
men  almost  all  awoke  at  daybreak  for  fear  of  being  surprised  by 
their  enemies.  As  soon  as  dawn  appeared  one  of  them  gave  the  cry, 
and  in  an  instant  all  the  warriors  entered  their  bark  canoes,  some  pass- 
ing around  the  islands  in  the  river  to  kill  some  beasts,  while  the  most 
alert  went  by  land  to  discover  whether  any  enemy's  fire  was  to  be 
seen.  It  was  their  custom  always  to  take  post  on  the  point  of  an 
island  for  safety  sake,  for  their  enemies  have  only  periaguas,  or  wooden 
canoes,  in  which  they  cannot  sail  as  fast  as  they  do,  on  account  of 
the  weight  of  their  craft.  Only  northern  tribes  have  birch  to  mak" 
bark  canoes;  the  southern  tribes  who  have  not  that  kind  of  tree,  are 
deprived  of  this  great  convenience.  *  *  * 

During  one  of  these  nineteen  days  of  our  very  painful  navigation, 
the  chief  of  a  band,  by  name  Aquipaguetin,  resolved  to  halt  about  noon 
in  a  large  prairie;  having  killed  a  very  fat  bear,  he  gave  a  feast  to 
the  chief  men,  and  after  the  repast  all  the  warriors  began  to  dance. 
Marked  in  the  face,  and  all  over  the  body,  with  various  colors,  each 
being  distinguished  by  the  figure  of  different  animals,  according  to  his 
particular  taste  or  inclination;  some  having  their  hair  short  and  full 
of  bear  oil,  with  white  and  red  feathers;  others  besprinkled  their  heads 
with  the  down  of  birds  which  adhered  to  the  oil.  All  danced  with 
their  arms  akimbo,  and  struck  the  ground  with  their  feet  so  stoutly 
as  to  leave  the  imprint  visible.  While  one  of  the  sons  of  the  master 
of  ceremonies  gave  each  in  turn  the  war-calumet  to  smoke,  he  wept 
bitterly.  The  father  in  a  doleful  voice,  broken  with  sighs  and  sobs, 
with  his  whole  body  bathed  in  tears,  sometimes  addressed  the  warriors; 
sometimes  came  to  me,  and  put  his  hands  on  my  head,  doing  the  same  to 
our  two  Frenchmen;  sometimes  he  raised  his  eyes  to  heaven  and 
often  uttered  the  word  Louis,  which  means  sun,  complaining  to  that 
great  luminary  of  the  death  of  his  son.  As  far  as  we  could  conjecture, 
this  ceremony  tended  only  to  our  destruction;  in  fact,  the  course  of  time 
showed  us  that  this  Indian  had  often  aimed  at  our  life;  but  seeing  the 
opposition  made  by  the  other  chiefs  who  prevented  it,  he  made  us 
embark  again,  and  employed  other  devices  to  get  by  degrees  the  goods 
of  our  canoemen,  not  daring  to  take  them  openly,  as  he  might  ia've 
done,  for  fear  of  being  accused  by  his  own  people  of  cowardice,  which 
the  bravest  hold  in  horror. 

This  wily  savage  had  the  bones  of  some  important  deceased  rela- 
tive, which  he  preserved  with  great  care  in  some  skins  dressed  and 
adorned  with  several  rows  of  black  and  red  porcupine  quills;  from  time 
to  time  he  assembled  his  men  to  give  it  a  smoke,  and  he  made  us  come 


222  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 

-i  \rral  tlav-  in  succession  to  cover  the  deceased's  bones  with  goods, 
and  by  a  present  wipe  away  the  tears  he  had  shed  for  him,  and  for 
hi*  own  son  killed  by  the  Miamis.  To  appease  this  captious  man,  we 
threw  on  the  bones  of  the  deceased  several  fathoms  of  French  tobacco, 
n \c-.  knives,  beads,  and  some  black  and  white  wampum  bracelets. 
In  this  way  the  Indian  stripped  us  under  pretexts,  which  we  could 
not  reproach  him  with,  as  he  declared  that  what  he  asked  was  only 
for  the  deceased,  and  to  give  the  warriors.  In  fact,  he  distributed 
among  them  all  that  we  gave  him.  By  these  feints  he  made  us  be- 
lieve that,  being  a  chief,  he  took  nothing  for  himself,  but  what  we 
gave  him  of  our  own  accord.  We  slept  at  the  point  of  the  lake  of 
Tears,  which  we  so  called  from  the  weeping  and  tears  which  this 
chief  shed  there  all  night  long,  or  which  were,  shed  by  one  of  his  sons, 
whom  he  caused  to  weep  when  tired  himself,  in  order  to  excite  his 
warriors  to  compassion,  and  oblige  them  to  kill  us  and  pursue  their 
enemies  to  avenge  his  son's  death. 

These  Indians  at  times  sent  their  best  runners  by  land  to  chase 
the  herds  of  wild  cattle  on  the  water  side;  as  these  animals  crossed 
the  river,  they  sometimes  killed  forty  or  fifty,  merely  to  take  the 
tongue  and  most  delicate  morsels,  leaving  the  rest  with  which  they 
would  not  burthen  themselves,  so  as  to  travel  more  rapidly.  *  *  * 

Having  arrived  on  the  nineteenth  day  of  our  navigation  five  leagues 
below  the  Falls  of  St.  Anthony,  these  Indians  landed  us  in  a  bay 
[probably  in  the  east  part  of  the  present  city  of  St.  Paul]  and  assem- 
bled to  deliberate  about  us.  They  distributed  us  separately,  and  gave 
us  to  three  heads  of  families  in  place  of  three  of  their  children  who 
had  been  killed  in  war.  They  first  seized  all  our  property,  and  broke 
our  canoe  to  pieces,  for  fear  we  should  return  to  their  enemies.  Their 
own  they  hid  all  in  some  alders  to  use  when  going  to  hunt;  and  though 
we  might  easily  have  reached  their  country  by  water,  they  compelled 
us  to  go  sixty  leagues  by  land,  forcing  us  to  march  from  daybreak 
to  two  hours  after  nightfall,  and  to  swim  over  many  rivers.  *  *  * 

After  five  days'  march  by  land,  suffering  hunger,  thirst,  and  out- 
rages, marching  all  day  long  without  rest,  fording  lakes  and  rivers, 
we  descried  a  number  of  women  and  children  coming  to  meet  our  little 
army.  All  the  elders  of  this  nation  assembled  on  our  account,  *  *  * 
one  of  the  principal  Issati  chiefs  gave  us  his  peace-calumet  to  smoke, 
and  accepted  the  one  we  had  brought.  He  then  gave  us  some  wild 
rice  Jo  eat,  presenting  it  to  us  in  large  bark  dishes,  which  the  Indian 
women  had  seasoned  with  whortleberries,  which  are  black  berries  that 
they  dry  in  the  sun  in  summer,  and  are  as  good  as  currants.  After 
this  feast,  the  best  we  had  had  for  seven  or  eight  days,  the  heads  of 
families  who  had  adopted  us  instead  of  their  sons  killed  in  war,  con- 
ducted us  separately  each  to  his  village,  marching  through  marshes, 
knee  deep  in  water,  for  a  league,  after  which  the  five  wives  of  the  one 


DU  LUTH  AXD  HEXXEPIX.  223 

who  called  me  Mitchinchi,  that  is  to  say,  his  son,  received  us  in  three 
bark  canoes,  and  took  us  a  short  league  from  our  starting  place  to  an 
island  where  their  cabins  were.  *  *  * 

The  day  after  our  arrival.  Aquipagnetin,  who  was  the  head  of  a 
large  family,  covered  me  with  a  robe  made  of  ten  large  dressed  beaver- 
skins,  trimmed  with  porcupine  quills.  This  Indian  showed  me  five  or 
six  of  his  wives,  telling  them,  as  I  afterward  learned,  that  they  should 
in  future  regard  me  as  one  of  their  children.  *  *  * 

I  often  spent  wretched  hours  among  these  savages;  for,  besides 
their  only  giving  me  a  little  wild  rice  and  smoked  fish  roes  to  eat  five 
or  six  times  a  week,  which  they  boiled  in  water  in  earthen  pots, 
Aquipaguetin  took  me  to  a  neighboring  island  with  his  wives  and 
children  to  till  the  ground,  in  order  to  sow  some  tobacco  seed,  and 
seeds  of  vegetables  that  I  had  brought,  and  which  this  Indian  prized 
extremely.  Sometimes  he  assembled  the  elders  of  the  village,  in  whose 
presence  he  asked  me  for  a  compass  that  I  always  had  in  my  sleeve; 
seeing  that  I  made  the  needle  turn  with  a  key,  and  believing  justly 
that  we  Europeans  went  all  over  the  habitable  globe,  guided  by  this 
instrument,  this  chief,  who  was  very  eloquent,  persuaded  his  people 
that  we  were  spirits,  and  capable  of  doing  anything  beyond  their  reach. 
At  the  close  of  his  address,  which  was  very  animated,  all  the  old  men 
wept  over  my  head,  admiring  in  me  what  they  could  not  understand. 
I  had  an  iron  pot  with  three  lion  feet,  which  these  Indians  never  dared 
touch,  unless  their  hand  was  wrapped  up  in  some  robe.  The  women 
had  it  hung  to  the  branch  of  a  tree,  not  daring  to  enter  the  cabin 
where  this  pot  was.  I  was  some  time  unable  to  make  myself  under- 
stood by  these  people,  but  feeling  myself  gnawed  by  hunger,  I  began 
to  compile  a  dictionary  of  their  language  by  means  of  their  children, 
with  whom  I  made  myself  familiar  in  order  to  learn. 

*  *  *  The  chiefs  having  regulated  the  places  for  hunting  the 
buffalo,  they  dispersed  in  several  bands  so  as  not  to  starve  each  other. 
Aquipaguetin,  one  of  the  chiefs,  who  had  adopted  me  as  his  son,  wished 
to  take  me  to  the  west  with  about  two  hundred  families;  I  made  an- 
swer that  I  awaited  spirits  (so  they  called  Frenchmen),  at  the  river 
Ouisconsin  [Wisconsin],  which  empties  into  the  river  Colbert,  who  were 
to  join  me  to  bring  them  merchandise,  and  that  if  he  chose  to  go 
that  way,  I  would  continue  with  him;  he  would  have  gone  there  but  for 
those  of  his  nation.  In  the  beginning  of  July,  1680,  we  descended  in 
canoe  southward  with  the  great  chief  named  Ouasicoude,  that  is  to  say, 
the  Pierced-pine,  with  about  eighty  cabins,  composed  of  more  than  a 
hundred  and  thirty  families,  and  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  warriors. 
Scarcely  would  the  Indians  give  me  a  place  in  their  little  craft,  for 
they  had  only  old  canoes.  They  went  four  days'  journey  lower  down 
to  get  birch  bark  to  make  some  more.  * 


MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 

Four  days  after  our  departure  for  the  buffalo  hunt,  we  halted  eight 
leagues  above  the  Falls  of  St.  Anthony  of  Padua  on  an  eminence  op- 
posite the  mouth  of  the  river  St.  Francis  [Rum  river] ;  here  the  Indian 
women  made  their  canoe  frames,  while  waiting  for  those  who  were  to 
bring  bark  to  make  canoes.  The  young  men  went  to  hunt  stag,  deer, 
and  beaver,  but  killed  so  few  animals,  for  such  a  large  part}-,  that  we 
could  very  rarely  get  a  bit  of  meat,  having  to  put  up  with  a  broth 
once  in  every  twenty-four  hours.  The  Pickard  and  myself  went  to  look 
for  haws,  gooseberries,  and  little  wild  fruit,  which  often  did  us  more 
harm  than  good  when  we  ate  them;  this  obliged  us  two  to  go  alone, 
as  Michael  Ako  refused,  in  a  wretched  canoe  to  Oviscousin  river,  which 
was  more  than  a  hundred  leagues  off,  to  see  whether  the  sieur  de  la 
Salle  had  not  sent  to  that  place  a  reinforcement  of  French  men,  with 
powder,  lead,  and  other  munitions,  as  he  had  promised  us  on  our  de- 
parture from  the  Islinois. 

The  Indians  would  not  have  suffered  this  voyage,  had  not  one  of 
the  three  remained  with  them;  they  wished  me  to  stay,  but  Michael 
Ako  absolutely  refused.  Our  whole  stock  was  fifteen  charges  of  pow- 
der, a  gun,  a  wretched  little  earthen  pot  which  the  Indians  had  given 
us,  a  knife,  and  a  beaver  robe,  to  travel  about  two  hundred  leagues, 
thus  abandoning  ourselves  to  Providence.  As  we  were  making  the  por- 
tage of  our  canote  at  the  Falls  of  St.  Anthony  of  Padua,  we  perceived 
five  or  six  of  our  Indians  who  had  taken  the  start;  one  of  them  had 
climbed  an  oak  opposite  the  great  fall  where  he  was  weeping  bitterly, 
with  a  well-dressed  beaver  robe,  whitened  inside  and  trimmed  with 
porcupine  quills,  which  this  savage  was  offering  as  a  sacrifice  to  the 
falls,  which  is  in  itself  admirable  and  frightful.  I  heard  him  while 
shedding  copious  tears  say,  addressing  this  great  cataract:  "Thou  who 
art  a  spirit,  grant  that  the  men  of  our  nation  may  pass  here  quietly 
without  accident,  that  we  may  kill  buffalo  in  abundance,  conquer  our 
enemies,  and  bring  slaves  here,  some  of  whom  we  will  put  to  death 
before  thee:  the  Me>seneoqz  (>o  they  call  the  [Fox]  tribe  named  by  the 
French  Outouagamis)  have  killed  our  kindred,  grant  that  we  may 
avenge  them."  In  fact,  after  the  heat  of  the  buffalo-hunt,  they  in- 
vaded their  enemies'  country,  killed  some,  and  brought  others  as 
slaves.  If  they  succeed  a  single  time,  even  after  repeated  failures, 
U:ev  adhere  to  their  superstition.  This  robe  offered  in  sacrifice  served 
one  of  our  Frenchmen,  who  took  it  as  we  returned.  *  *  * 

During  sixty  leagues  that  we  sailed  down  the  river,  we  killed 
only  one  deer,  swimming  across,  but  the  heat  was  so  great  that  the 
meat  spoiled  in  twenty-four  hours.  This  made  us  look  for  turtles, 
which  we  found  hard  to  take,  as  their  hearing  is  so  acute  that,  as 
soon  as  they  hear  the  least  noise,  they  jump  quickly  into  the  water. 
Never  have  we  more  admired  God's  providence  than  during 
this  voyage,  for  we  did  not  always  find  deer,  and  could  not  kill  them 


DU  LUTH  AND  HENNEPIN.  225 

when  we  would;  but  the  eagles,  which  are  very  common  in  these  vast 
countries,  sometimes  dropped  from  their .  claws  bream,  or  large  carp, 
which  they  were  carrying  to  their  nests.  Another  time  we  found  an 
otter  on  the  bank  of  the  river  Colbert  eating  a  large  fish  [a  shovel- 
nosed  sturgeon],  which  had,  running  from  the  head,  a  kind  of  paddle 
or  beak,  five  fingers  broad  and  a  foot  and  a  half  long,  which  made  our 
Pickard  say  that  he  thought  he  saw  a  devil  in  the  paws  of  that  otter: 
but  his  fright  did  not  prevent  our  eating  this  monstrous  fish,  which  we 
found  very  good. 

While  seeking  the  Oviscousin  river,  Aquipaguetin,  that  savage  father, 
whom  I  had  left,  and  whom  we  believed  more  than  two  hundred  leagues 
away,  suddenly  appeared  with  ten  warriors,  on  the  llth  of  July,  1680. 
We  believed  that  he  was  coming  to  kill  us,  because  we  had  left  him, 
with  the  knowledge  indeed  of~  the  other  Indians,  but  against  his  will. 
He  first  gave  us  some  wild  rice,  and  a  slice  of  buffalo  meat  to  eat, 
and  asked  whether  we  had  found  the  Frenchmen  who  were  to  bring  ua 
goods;  but  not  being  satisfied  with  what  we  told  him,  he  started  be- 
fore us,  and  went  himself  to  Oviscousin  to  try  and  carry  off  what  he 
could  from  the  French;  this  savage  found  no  one  there,  and  came  and 
rejoined  us  three  days  after.  *  *  * 

All  the  Indian  women  hid  their  stock  of  meat  at  the  mouth  of 
Buffalo  river  [the  Chippewa  river,  in  Wisconsin,  close  below  Lake 
Pepin],  and  in  the  islands,  and  we  again  went  down  the  river  Colbert 
about  eighty  leagues'  way  to  hunt  with  this  multitude,  of  canoes;  from 
time  to  time  the  Indians  hid  their  canoes  on  the  banks  of  the  river 
and  in  the  islands;  then  struck  into  the  prairies  seven  or  eight  leagues 
beyond  the  mountains  [bluffs  of  the  river  valley],  where  they  killed, 
at  different  times,  as  many  as  a  hundred  and  twenty  buffaloes.  They 
always  left  some  of  their  old  men  on  the  tops  of  the  mountains  to  be 
on  the  lookout  for  their  enemies.  *  *  * 

On  the  25th  of  July,  1680,  as  we  were  ascending  the  river  Colbert, 
after  the  buffalo -hunt,  to  the  Indian  villages,  we  met  the  Sieur  de 
Luth,  who  came  to  the  Nadoussious,  with  five  French  soldiers;  they 
joined  us  about  two  hundred  and  twenty  leagues  distant  from  the 
country  of  the  Indians  who  had  taken  us;  as  we  had  some  knowledge 
of  their  language,  they  begged  us  to  accompany  them  to  the  villages 
of  those  tribes,  which  I  did  readily,  knowing  that  these  Frenchmen  had 
not  approached  the  sacraments  for  two  years.  The  Sieur  de  Luth, 
who  acted  as  captain,  seeing  me  tired  of  tonsuring  the  children,  and 
bleeding  asthmatic  old  men  to  get  a  mouthful  of  meat,  told  the  In- 
dians that  I  was  his  elder  brother,  so  that,  having  my  subsistence  se- 
cured, I  labored  only  for  the  salvation  of  these  Indians. 

We  arrived  at  the  villages  of  the  Issati  on  the  14th  of  August, 
1680.  I  found  our  chalice  and  our  papers  still  there,  which  I  had  hidden 
in  the  ground;  the  tobacco  which  I  had  planted,  had  been  choked  by  the 

I.-13 


226  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 

weeds;    the  turnips,  cabbages,   and  other  vegetables   were   of   extraordin- 
ary  size.    The   Indians   durst   not   eat   them.    *    *     * 

Toward  the  end  of  September,  having  no  implements  to  begin  an 
establishment,  we  resolved  to  tell  these  people  that,  for  their  benefit, 
we  would  have  to  return  to  the  French  settlements.  The  great  chief 
of  the  Issati  or  Nadouessiouz  consented,  and  traced  in  pencil  on  a  paper 
I  gave  him,  the  route  we  were  to  take  for  four  hundred  leagues  of 
the  way.  With  this  chart  we  set  out,  eight  Frenchmen,  in  two  canoes, 
and  descended  the  rivers  St.  Francis  and  Colbert.  Two  of  our  men 
took  two  beaver-robes  at  the  Falls  of  St.  Anthony  of  Padua,  which 
these  Indians  had  hung  in  sacrifice  on  the  trees. 

We  stopped  near  Oxisc-onsin  river  to  smoke  some  meat. 
We  found  that  river  as  wide  as  the  Seignelay,  with  ;i  strong  current. 
After  sailing  up  sixty  leagues,  we  came  to  a  portage  of  half  a  league, 
which  the  Nadonessiouz  chief  had  marked  for  us;  we  slept  there  to 
leave  marks  and  crosses  on  the  trunks  of  the  trees.  The  next  day  we 
entered  a  river  [the  Fox  river]  which  winds  wonderfully,  for  after 
six  hours'  sailing  we  found  ourselves  opposite  the  place  where  we  had 
embarked.  *  *  * 

We  passed  four  lakes,  two  of  them  pretty  large,  on  the  banks  of 
which  the  Miamis  formerly  lived.  We  found  Maskoutens,  Kikapous, 
and  Outaougamy  there,  who  plant  Indian  corn  for  their  subsistence. 
All  this  country  is  as  fine  as  that  of  the  Islinois. 

We  made  a  portage  at  a  rapid  called  the  Cakalin,  and  after  about 
four  hundred  leagues'  sail  from  our  leaving  the  country  of  the  Issati 
and  Xadouessious,  we  arrived  safely  at  the  extremity  of  the  bay  of 
the  Puans  [Green  bay],  where  we  found  Frenchmen  trading  with  the 
Indians  contrary  to  orders.  *  *  * 

One  of  our  Frenchmen  gave  a  gun  for  a  canoe  larger  than  ours, 
with  which,  after  sailing  a  hundred  leagues  in  the  Bay  of  the  Puants, 
we  reached  Missilimakinac  [Mackinaw],  where  we  were  obliged  to  win- 
ter. To  employ  the  time  usefully,  I  preached  every  holy  day,  and  on 
the  Sundays  of  Advent  and  Lent.  The  Outtaouctz  and  Hurons  were 
often  present,  rather  from  curiosity  than  from  any  inclination  to  live 
according  to  our  Christian  maxims.  These  last  Indians  said,  to  us 
speaking  of  our  discovery,  that  they  were  men,  but  that  we  French- 
men were  spirits,  because,  had  they  gone  so  far  as  we  had,  the  strange 
nations  would  have  killed  them,  while  we  went  fearlessly  everywhere. 

Xot  to  make  the  foregoing  quotations  too  long,  less  impor- 
tant parts  of  Hennepin's  complete  narration  are  omitted,  some 
of  which  may  be  here  briefly  mentioned. 

In  his  geographic  description  of  the  Mississippi  and  its 
tributaries,  the  St.  Croix  is  called  Tomb  river,  this  name  being 


DU  LUTH  AND  HENNEPIN.  227 

given,  as  Hennepin  relates,  "because  the  Issati  left  there  the 
body  of  one  of  their  warriors,  killed  by  a  rattlesnake,  on  whom, 
according  to  their  custom,  I  put  a  blanket.  This  act  of  hu- 
manity gained  me  much  importance  by  the  gratitude  displayed 
by  the  men  of  the  deceased's  tribe,  in  a  great  banquet  which 
they  gave  me  in  their  country,  and  to  which  more  than  a 
hundred  Indians  were  invited."  Such  honor  to  the  captive 
missionary  for  his  kind  act  done  during  the  return  from  the 
buffalo  hunting,  after  the  arrival  of  Du  Luth  and  his  men, 
indicates,  like  many  other  incidents  throughout  the  narration, 
that  Hennepin  and  his  two  comrades  were  generally  not  treated 
harshly  by  their  captors,  but  rather  with  much  friendliness. 
Du  Luth,  in  his  visit  with  these  Indians  a  year  earlier,  had 
well  informed  them  of  the  benefits  they  would  obtain  by  trading 
their  furs  for  the  goods  brought  by  white  men. 

Several  geographic  names  used  by  Hennepin  were  given  to 
commemorate  leading  men  in  civil  and  military  affairs  in 
France.  Thus  the  Mississippi  was  then  called  the  Eiver 
Colbert,  in  honor  of  the  great  French  statesman  who  died  in 
1683;  but  the  later  work  by  Hennepin,  published  in  1697, 
named  and  mapped  this  river  as  "Le  Grand  Fleuve  Meschasipi." 
The  Illinois  river  received  the  name  of  the  Marquis  de  Seign- 
elay,  the  Minister  of  Marine  of  France,  who  was  a  son  of  the 
elder  Colbert.  Lake  Buade,  later  called  Mille  Lacs,  bore  the 
family  name  of  Count  Frontenac,  who  was  governor  of  Canada 
from  1672  to  1682,  and  again  from  1689  to  1698;  and  Lake 
Superior  was  called  Lake  Conde,  for  the  great  Prince  de  Conde, 
who  died  in  1686,  a  very  distinguished  French  general,  belong- 
ing to  a  family  renowned  through  several  generations  for  illus- 
trious military  services. 

Hennepin  became  exceedingly  fatigued  by  the  long  march 
of  five  days  to  the  Sioux  villages,  so  that  on  his  arrival  he  was 
very  weak,  at  times  needing  the  support  of  a  man  on  each  side 
to  enable  him  to  stand  up.  One  of  the  Indians,  who  seemed 
very  old  and  decrepit,  gave  him  a  large  calumet  to  smoke,  "and, 
weeping  bitterly,"  Hennepin  writes,  "rubbed  my  head  and  arms, 
showing  his  compassion.  *  *  *  There  was  a  bearskin  near 


228  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 

the  fire,  on  which  he  rubbed  my  thighs,  legs,  and  the  soles  of 
my  feet,  with  wild-cat  oil/'  Aquipaguetin,  by  whom  Hennepin 
was  adopted  as  a  son,  had  a  sweating  cabin  made  for  him,  in 
which  he  was  sweated  and  vigorously  rubbed  three  times  in  a 
week,  restoring  him  fully  to  his  usual  strength. 

Visiting  the  Indians  in  their  cabins,  Hennepin  one  day 
found  a  sick  girl  baby,  whom  he  thought  near  death.  For  her 
salvation  he  induced  the  Pickard,  Anthony  Auguelle,  to  aid  him 
in  her  baptism,  as  a  sponsor  or  witness,  and  gave  her  the  name 
Antoinette,  in  honor  of  St.  Anthony  of  Padua,  the  patron  of 
their  travels.  Hennepin  wrapped  the  baby  in  a  part  of  an 
altar  cloth  of  soft  linen,  and  he  writes  that  "she  was  smiling 
the  next  day  in  her  mother's  arms,  who  believed  that  I  had  cured 
her  child,  but  she  died  soon  after  to  my  great  consolation." 
The  joy  of  the  missionary  is  explained  by  Parkman:  "In  this 
he  was  like  the  Jesuits,  who  could  find  nothing  but  consolation 
in  the  death  of  a  newly  baptized  infant,  since  it  was  thus 
assured  of  a  paradise  which,  had  it  lived,  it  would  probably  have 
forfeited  by  sharing  in  the  superstitions  of  its  parents." 

At  two  places  in  his  narration,  Hennepin  tells  of  seeing  an 
embassy  of  Indians  who  came  to  the  Isanti  Sioux  from  tribes  of 
their  allies  living  about  five  hundred  leagues  distant  westward, 
and  who  joined  with  these  Sioux  of  the  Mille  Lacs  region  in  a 
calumet  dance.  The  ambassadors  informed  the  Frenchmen  that 
the  Assiniboines  were  then  only  seven  or  eight  days  distant  to 
the  northeast,  that  is,  near  the  west  end  of  Lake  Superior, 
where  they  had  come  also  in  September  of  the  preceding  year, 
as  noted  by  the  report  of  Du  Luth  given  in  the  early  part  of 
this  chapter.  "All  the  other  known  tribes  on  the  west  and 
northwest,"  says  Hennepin,  from  the  statements  of  the  embassy, 
"inhabit  immense  plains  and  prairies  abounding  in  buffalo  and 
peltries,  where  they  are  sometimes  obliged  to  make  fire  with 
buffalo  dung,  for  want  of  wood." 

Distances  estimated  by  Du  Luth  and  Hennepin,  or  reported 
to  them  by  the  Indians,  are  often  somewhat  too  great,  ap- 
parently through  the  considerable  exaggeration  which  may  be 
pardoned  to  tired  travelers;  but  occasionally,  as  in  the  width 


DU  LUTH  AND  HENNEPIN.  229 

noted  for  Lake  Pepin,  the  distance  is  proportionally  farther 
increased  through  deficiency  of  observation  or  of  memory.  Hen- 
nepin's estimate  of  the  distance  voyaged  in  the  ascent  of  the 
Mississippi  from  the  mouth  of  the  Illinois  river  before  meeting 
the  Sioux  was  about  200  leagues;  and  from  the  place  of  that 
meeting  to  where  they  left  this  river,  at  the  site  of  St.  Paul, 
about  250  leagues.  The  whole  distance  thus  supposed  to  be 
about  450  French  leagues,  or  1,242  English  miles,  is  ascer- 
tained by  the  present  very  accurate  maps  to  be  only  689  miles, 
following  the  winding  course  of  the  river.  If  we  can  truthfully 
accept  the  proportional  ratio  of  the  estimates  of  Hennepin,  in- 
dicating four-ninths  of  the  whole  voyage  to  have  been  passed 
when  they  met  the  Sioux  and  were  taken  captive,  that  place  was 
near  the  head  of  the  Eock  Island  rapids,  some  fifteen  miles 
above  the  cities  of  Eock  Island  and  Davenport,  being  thus  about 
150  miles  below  the  mouth  of  the  Wisconsin  river. 

COMPABISOST    OF    NAEEATIONS    BY    DTI   LUTH,    HEX- 
NEPIN,  AND  LA   SALLE. 

Three  different  narrations  of  the  travels  of  Du  Luth  and 
Hennepin  in  the  region  of  the  upper  Mississippi,  mainly  agree- 
ing well  with  each  other,  have  been  preserved  and  were  published 
together  in  1880  by  Shea  in  his  edition  of  Hennepin's  "Descrip- 
tion of  Louisiana."  This  volume  of  407  pages  contains  a  bio- 
graphic notice  of  Father  Hennepin,  with  comments  on  his  pub- 
lished works  and  his  personal  character,  in  45  pages;  the  transla- 
tion of  Hennepin's  first  book,  from  its  original  Paris  edition  of 
1683,  in  299  pages;  and  an  appendix  of  several  other  translations 
from  old  French  books  and  manuscripts,  relating  to  Hennepin's 
travels.  The  narration  by  Du  Luth,  presented  in  the  first  part 
of  this  chapter,  forms  pages  374  to  377  in  this  volume;  the  ex- 
tensive quotations  which  we  have  made  from  Hennepin's  own 
writing  are  in  its  pages  190  to  260;  and  a  third  account  of  this 
expedition  and  the  country  seen  by  Hennepin  and  his  two  com- 
panions, written  by  La  Salle  in  a  very  long  letter  dated  at  Fort 
Frontenac,  near  the  mouth  of  Lake  Ontario,  August  22,  1682, 
is  given  in  pages  361  to  371. 


230  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 

The  letter  of  La  Salle,  in  the  original  French,  was  published 
1)\  Pierre  Margry  at  Paris  in  1877,  in  the  second  volume  of  hi* 
collection  of  early  documents  concerning  the  discoveries  and 
>i  Itlements  of  the  French  in  the  west  and  south  parts  of  North 
Aniorica.  Besides  Shea's  translation  of  the  part  of  this  letter 
narrating  the  explorations  of  Hennepin  and  Du  Luth,  another 
translation  of  the  same  part  was  published  by  Prof.  N.  H.  Win- 
chell  in  1884  in  the  first  chapter  of  Volume  I  of  his  Final 
Report  on  the  Geological  and  Natural  History  Survey  of  Min- 
nesota. 

It  is  distinctly  stated  by  Du  Luth  that  Hennepin  and  his 
two  associates  were  made  captives  and  slaves  by  the  Sioux,  as 
Hennepin  also  tells  us;  so  that  we  cannot  doubt  that  this  little 
party  of  explorers,  from  the  day  of  their  meeting  the  great  ex- 
pedition of  Sioux  warriors,  were  compelled  to  journey  with  them 
to  their  villages.  The  Frenchmen  continued  under  such  rela- 
tionship of  restraint,  oversight,  and  occasional  compulsion  to 
manual  toil,  that  Hennepin  regarded  it  as  a  kind  of  servitude, 
until  the  resolute  reprimands  of  Du  Luth  persuaded  the  savages 
to  accord  more  respectful  and  generous  treatment  to  their  for- 
mer captives.  The  banquet  which  Hennepin  represents  to  have 
been  voluntarily  given  in  his  honor,  on  account  of  his  friendly  act 
in  covering  with  a  blanket  the  dead  and  wasting  remains  of  an 
T.-anti  warrior  at  the  Tomb  river,  was  probably  a  part  of  the 
proceedings  of  an  Indian  council  mentioned  by  Du  Luth  as 
brought  together  by  himself,  a  week  after  his  arrival  at  the  vil- 
lages of  the  Sioux,  to  give  him  an  opportunity  of  publicly  rebuk- 
ing their  conduct  toward  Hennepin  and  the  other  two  Frenchmen 
with  him. 

La  Salle,  on  the  contrary,  writing  probably  according  to  in- 
formation supplied  by  Accault,  denied  that  the  Sioux  held  the 
Frenchmen  in  captivity.  He  disparaged  Du  Luth,  as  an  outlaw 
who  had  spent  three  years  in  the  region  of  Lake  Superior  with  a 
band  of  twenty  French  bushrangers.  For  Accault  he  had  warm 
praise,  because  of  his  prudence,  courage,  and  success  in  dealings 
with  various  Indian  tribes,  whose  languages  and  usages  he  knew 
well,  although  ignorant  of  the  Sioux  language  when  sent  to 


DTI  LUTH  AXD  HEXNEPIN.  231 

that  people.  To  Hennepin,  whom  Accault  heartily  disliked,  La 
Salle  ascribed  the  following  unenviable  reputation  of  habitual  ex- 
aggeration and  untruthfulness. 

I  have  deemed  it  seasonable  to  give  you  a  narrative  of  the  adven- 
tures of  this  canoe,  because  I  have  no  doubt  it  will  be  spoken  of,  and 
if  you  desire  to  confer  with  Father  Louis  Hempin,  Recollect,  who  has 
gone  back  to  France,  it  is  necessary  to  know  him  somewhat,  for  he 
will  not  fail  to  exaggerate  everything;  it  is  his  character;  and  to  my- 
self, he  has  written  me  as  though  he  had  been  all  ready  to  be  burned, 
although  he  was  not  even  in  danger;  but  he  believes  that  it  is  hon- 
orable for  him  to  act  in  this  way,  and  he  speaks  more  in  keeping  with 
what  he  wishes  than  what  he  knows. 

Du  Luth  wrote  that  the  place  where  he  met  Hennepin  on 
the  Mississippi  was  fully  eighty  leagues  below  the  mouth  of  the 
St.  Croix;  and  Hennepin  estimated  that  it  was  about  two  hund- 
red and  twenty  leagues  from  the  country  of  the  Isanti  people. 
Deducting  from  the  latter  estimate  the  sixty  leagues  of  the  land 
trip  from  the  site  of  St.  Paul  to  the  neighborhood  of  Mille  Lacs, 
we  have  the  distance  of  about  a  hundred  and  sixty  leagues 
below  St.  Paul,  which  would  put  the  meeting  place  much  farther 
south  than  Du  Luth  supposed.  In  view  of  this  discordance,  we 
should  perhaps  say  no  more  than  that  the  meeting  was  probably 
not  very  distant  from  the  southeast  corner  of  Minnesota.  By  ac- 
cepting the  ratio  between  Hennepin's  figures  given  first  for  the 
two  parts  of  his  northward  journey  on  the  Mississippi  in  the 
spring  and  later  for  the  part  traveled  with  Du  Luth,  and  re- 
ducing those  estimates  to  the  actual  distances  now  known  by 
exact  maps,  we  find  the  place  of  the  meeting  to  have  been  about 
ten  miles  below  the  Wisconsin  river,  or  fifty-five  miles,  by  the 
course  of  the  Mississippi,  southward  from  the  Minnesota  and 
Iowa  boundary.  A  place  about  eight  miles  farther  south  is 
reached  by  measuring  eighty  French  leagues,  as  Du  Luth  esti- 
mated, or  221  English  statute  miles,  down  the  Mississippi  from 
the  St.  Croix;  and  his  canoe  party  could  easily  cover  that  dis- 
tance in  paddling  two  days  and  two  nights  and  until  ten  o'clock 
the  next  forenoon,  with  the  large  aid  of  the  river  current. 


232  MINNESOTA  IN  THEEE  CENTURIES. 

HENNEPIN'S    ROUTE    NORTHWARD    FROM    ST.    PAUL. 

Many  Indian  trails,  canoe  routes,  and  portages,  traversing 
the  country  around  Mille  Lacs,  used  by  the  Sioux  in  Hennepin's 
time  and  by  the  Ojibways  after  their  conquest  of  that  region, 
have  been  described  by  the  late  Hon.  J.  V.  Brower  in  his  Mem- 
oirs of  Explorations  in  the  Basin  of  the  Mississippi  (Volume 
III,  Mille  Lacs,  1900,  pages  55,  92;  Volume  IV,  Kathio,  1901, 
pages  51,  53,  84,  122,  124).  He  identified  the  place  where  the 
Sioux  and  the  three  Frenchmen  left  the  Mississippi,  thence  going 
by  a  land  journey,  as  near  the  mounds  on  Dayton's  bluff,  in  the 
east  part  of  the  city  of  St.  Paul.  Less  than  a  hundred  years 
later,  when  Carver  was  there,  this  locality  was  the  well  known 
rendezvous  of  many  Sioux  tribes  for  burial  of  their  dead  and  for 
a  grand  yearly  council.  Hennepin  described  the  place  as  "a. 
bay/'  referring  probably  to  the  small  valley  where  Phalen  creek 
flows  into  the  Mississippi,  forming  a  gap  or  embayment  in  the 
river  bluffs,  between  the  high  central  part  of  the  city  and  the 
somewhat  higher  area  of  Dayton's  bluff  and  the  Mounds  Park. 

Journeying  thence  afoot,  the  Sioux  and  their  French  cap- 
tives probably  passed  by  Lake  Phalen,  White  Bear  and  Bald 
Eagle  lake,  the  several  smaller  lakes  at  Centerville,  and  onward 
northerly  through  Anoka,  Isanti,  and  Kanabec  counties,  to  the 
vicinity  of  Knife  lake  and  river,  where  Groseilliers  and  Radis- 
son  had  held  their  council  with  the  Sioux  and  Crees  twenty 
years  before.  About  twenty-five  miles  of  travel  thence  toward 
the  northwest  by  a  trail  through  a  magnificent  pine  forest,  on 
the  last  day  of  this  journey,  brought  the  Sioux  to  the  most  south- 
ern of  their  villages  about  Mille  Lacs,  on  the  several  bays  of 
its  south  shore  and  on  the  three  small  lakes  through  which  the 
Rum  river  flows  within  the  first  ten  miles  below  the  mouth  of 
that  much  larger  lake.  The  Frenchmen  were  assigned  separately 
to  homes  with  three  of  the  Sioux  warriors,  apparently  in  these 
southern  villages.  Others  of  the  Sioux,  having  violently  taken 
their  share  of  the  French  merchandise,  went  farther  to  their 
numerous  villages,  situated  on  or  near  the  shores  of  Mille  Lacs 
around  all  its  extent. 


DU  LUTH  AND  HENKEPIK  233 

This  beautiful  lake,  nearly  twenty  miles  long  from  south  to 
north,  with  a  width  of  ten  to  fifteen  miles,  was  mapped  by 
Franquelin  in  1688,  probably  from  information  supplied  by  Du 
Luth  and  Hennepin,  as  surrounded  by  eighteen  villages  of  the 
Isanti  tribe  of  the  Sioux.  Farther  from  this  lake,  but  within 
distances  of  convenient  communication,  dwelt  other  Sioux  tribes 
or  bands.  The  Ouadebathon  tribe,  whom  Hennepin  calls  "River 
People,"  shown  both  on  Hennepin's  map  and  the  more  elaborate 
map  of  Franquelin  at  a  considerable  distance  northeast  of  Mille 
Lacs,  were  quite  surely  the  same  as  the  Houetbatons,  mentioned 
by  Du  Luth  as  one  of  the  tribes  visited  by  him  in  1679.  They 
probably  lived  on  the  Mississippi  at  Sandy  lake,  about  thirty- 
five  miles  northeast  of  Mille  Lacs,  and  fifty  miles  west  from 
the  site  of  Fond  du  Lac,  at  the  west  end  of  Lake  Superior.  In 
Du  Luth's  travel  from  Lake  Superior  to  Mille  Lacs,  he  probably 
went  or  returned  by  the  canoe  route  of  the  St.  Louis  and  the 
East  and  West  Savannah  rivers  to  Sandy  lake;  and  he  may  also 
have  passed  one  way  by  land,  following  trails  noted  by  Brower, 
from  Lake  Superior  to  the  St.  Croix  and  past  the  headwaters  of 
the  Kettle,  Snake,  and  Rice  rivers,  to  the  northeast  shore  of  Mille 
Lacs.  On  this  land  route  he  would  probably  visit  the  Songas- 
kitons,  the  Dog  or  Wolf  tribe,  who  likewise  are  mentioned  both 
by  Du  Luth  and  Hennepin,  living  perhaps  in  the  vicinity  of 
Moose  and  Sturgeon  lakes,  as  we  may  infer  from  their  position 
on  Franquelin's  map,  or  perhaps  Du  Luth  came  to  them  by  a 
southward  detour,  to  the  vicinity  of  Cross  and  Pokegama  lakes, 
on  the  lower  part  of  the  Snake  river. 

Hennepin  gives  a  very  picturesque  view  of  the  five  days' 
march  to  the  Sioux  villages  in  the  first  week  of  May.  They 
traveled,  he  says,  from  daybreak  until  after  nightfall.  Coming 
to  many  streams  which  were  swollen  by  the  late  melting  of  the 
winter's  snow  in  the  woods  and  by  the  usual  rains  at  that  sea- 
son, Hennepin  was  obliged  to  swim  across  them,  while  his 
Franciscan  robe  was  carried  on  the  head-  of  one  of  the  Indians, 
many  of  whom  were  very  tall.  Accault  and  Augelle,  who  were 
smaller  than  Hennepin,  could  not  swim,  but  were  borne  across 
deep  streams  on  the  shoulders  of  Indians.  Very  thin  ice,  newly 


234  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 

frozen  on  the  streams  and  lakes  forded,  sometimes  cut  their 
legs,  causing  them  to  bleed  profusely;  and  the  Frenchmen  were 
further  weakened  by  fasting,  for,  on  account  of  scarcity  of  food, 
they  were  grudgingly  allowed  only  one  meal  daily.  "I  was  so 
weak,"  Henuepin  writes,  "that  I  often  lay  down  on  the  way, 
resolved  to  die  there,  rather  than  follow  these  Indians  who 
marched  on  and  continued  their  route  with  a  celerity  which  sur- 
passes the  power  of  Europeans." 

The  route  of  the  last  day  of  their  toilsome  travel  was  pro- 
bably from  Knife  lake  northwest  to  the  ancient  sites  of  five 
Sioux  villages  mapped  by  Brower  on  Sagawamick,  South  End, 
and  Portage  bays  of  the  southern  shore  of  Mille  Lacs.  We  can 
with  much  confidence  identify  the  village  site  of  the  Sioux  and 
later  of  the  Ojibways  on  the  south  side  of  Portage  bay  as  the 
place  where  the  Isanti  chief  and  the  Frenchmen  smoked  each 
other's  calumets  of  peace  at  the  end  of  the  journey.  This  aus- 
picious ceremony  was  succeeded  by  a  feast  of  wild  rice  and  dried 
blueberries,  stewed  together  and  served  in  large  dishes  of  birch 
bark,  a  most  welcome  repast  to  the  three  white  men,  utterly 
fatigued  and  almost  famished  in  their  long  forced  march. 

It  is  noteworthy  that  Hennepin  described  Mille  Lacs  as 
spreading  out  into  great  marshes  of  shallow  water,  filled  with 
wild  rice,  which  in  its  ripening  season  the  Indian  women  tied 
into  bunches  to  prevent  it  being  wholly  devoured  by  ducks  and 
other  birds.  The  grain  was  harvested  by  being  beaten  off  into 
canoes. 

The  plentiful  blueberries  of  this  region,  and  of  all  north- 
eastern Minnesota,  were  gathered  in  large  quantities  by  the 
Indians  and  were  dried  to  be  thus  kept  for  use  on  special  oc- 
casions throughout  the  year.  These  dried  berries  were  much 
prized,  both  by  the  Sioux,  when  they  occupied  that  country,  and 
afterward  to  the  present  time  by  their  successors,  the  Ojibways. 
The  whortleberry,  or  huckleberry,  grow?  also  in  that  part  of 
our  state,  but  is  less  abundant. 

After  the  feast,  the  Frenchmen  were  separately  conducted 
to  the  villages  of  those  who  had  adopted  them  in  the  place  of 
their  sons  killed  in  war.  Accault  and  Augelle  appear  to  have 


DU  LUTH  AND  HENNBPIK.  235 

been  taken  eastward  to  villages  on  South  End  bay,  while  Henne- 
pin  at  first  went  southward  across  the  portage,  a  little  more 
than  a  mile  long,  to  the  northeast  part  of  Onamia  lake,  the  low- 
est in  the  series  of  three  lakes  on  the  Hum  river  within  ten  miles 
from  the  mouth  of  Mille  Lacs.  The  five  wives  of  Aquipaguetin, 
who  adopted  Hennepin  as  his  son,  there  received  him  with  three 
canoes  and  paddled  about  two  miles  westward,  along  the  north 
side  of  Onamia  lake,  to  that  chief's  village  on  "an  island." 

Brower  identified  this  place  as  the  small  tract  of  firm 
ground  at  the  west  side  of  Rum  river  where  it  flows  into 
Onamia  Lake.  It  is  surrounded  by  the  river,  the  lake,  and 
lower  and  swampy  land,  as  mapped  in  his  Memoirs  of  Mille 
Lac  (page  126)  and  Kathio  (page  45).  On  this  "island"  an 
ancient  village  site  of  the  Sioux  is  indicated  by  abundant  frag- 
ments of  their  pottery,  and  the  place  was  therefore  named  by 
Brower  as  "Aquipaguetin  Island."  No  other  locality  in  all  this 
region  fits  the  description  given  by  Hennepin,  and  we  may 
therefore  be  quite  sure  that  it  was  his  principal  home  during 
his  stay  in  the  region  of  Mille  Lacs.  It  was  also  possibly  the 
site  of  the  Sioux  council  and  banquet  mentioned  by  both  Du 
Luth  and  Hennepin  as  held  soon  after  the  return  from  the 
buffalo  hunt:  but  more  probably  that  convocation,  like  the  calu- 
met-smoking and  feast  at  the  arrival  of  the  Frenchmen,  was  in 
the  more  central  and  presumably  larger  Sioux  village  south  of 
Portage  bay. 

Whether  that  was  the  "great  village"  in  which  Du  Luth  a 
year  previous  "had  the  honor  to  plant  his  majesty's  arms,"  al- 
lying these  Sioux  with  New  France  for  fur  trading,  cannot  be 
determined;  but  it  may  perhaps  quite  as  probably  have  been 
there  as  at  any  of  the  ancient  village  sites  near  the  mouth  of 
Mille  Lacs,  about  seven  miles  distant  to  the  northwest,  which 
have  been  supposed  by  Winchell,  Hill,  and  Brower,  to  be  the 
place  of  Du  Luth's  ceremonious  council  in  1679.  In  coming 
to  this  large  lake  from  the  south  by  the  usual  canoe  route  of  the 
Rum  river,  the  first  accessible  part  of  the  entire  lake  shore  was 
at  this  village  on  Portage  bay,  near  the  middle  of  the  south  end 
of  Mille  Lacs,  separated  from  Onamia  lake  by  a  portage  easily 


236  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 

made  by  the  Indians  with  their  light  canoes  and  little  luggage; 
while  conversely  it  was  the  most  convenient  rendezvous  and 
place  of  departure  from  the  many  ancient  Sioux  villages  around 
Mille  Lacs,  whenever  an  expedition  down  the  Rum  river  was 
undertaken. 

If  the  march  of  five  days  from  St.  Paul  to  Mille  Lacs, 
after  the  middle  of  spring,  with  the  streams  flooded,  the  winter 
ice  of  lakes  melted,  and  many  other  parts  of  the  route  made 
deeply  muddy  and  difficult  by  thawing  and  rains,  be  compared 
with  the  seven  days  of  travel  by  Groseilliers  and  Radisson  from 
the  council  and  feasting  at  or  near  Knife  lake  to  visit  the  Prai- 
rir  Sioux  twenty  years  before  and  a  month  earlier,  when 
marshes  and  lakes  were  still  frozen  and  easily  crossed,  we  may 
well  believe  that  longer  journey  to  have  reached  to  the  border  of 
the  unlimited  prairie  country  in  the  neighborhood  of  New  TJlm, 
as  was  indicated  in  the  preceding  chapter.  The  speed  and  stress 
of  the  Sioux  march,  which  astonished  and  dismayed  Hennepin, 
would  probably  have  been  thought  nothing  extraordinary  by  those 
first  explorers  of  our  state,  inured  to  every  hardship  and  priva- 
tion by  many  years  of  sharing  the  life  of  the  red  men. 

The  Indians  informed  Hennepin  that  some  of  the  Thin- 
Ihonha  or  Prairie  Sioux  lived  during  a  part  of  the  year  at  the 
foot  of  a  fall  of  the  Mississippi  river,  reached  by  canoeing 
twenty  or  thirty  leagues  up  that  river  above  the  Falls  of  St. 
Anthony.  This  is  the  Sauk  Rapids,  at  the  town  of  this  name. 
The  temporary  villages  of  these  Tintonwan  bands,  migrating 
from  the  vast  prairie  region  of  southern  Minnesota,  a  week's 
travel  distant,  were  on  the  small  prairie  areas  adjoining  St. 
Cloud,  on  both  sides  of  the  Mississippi,  about  two  miles  south 
of  Sauk  Rapids.  The  distance  from  the  foot  of  these  rapids  to 
the  Falls  of  St.  Anthon3r,  accurately  measured  along  the  course 
of  the  river,  is  seventy-seven  miles.  For  many  years  after  the 
Civil  War,  steamboats  plied  regularly,  during  favorable  stages 
of  water,  along  this  distance  between  Minneapolis  and  St.  Cloud, 
being  restricted  by  the  insuperable  obstacles  of  the  falls  at  each 
end  of  that  stretch  of  the  river. 


DU  LUTH  AND  HENKEPIK  237 

FALSE   CLAIM   OF  EXPLORING  THE  LOWER 
MISSISSIPPI. 

In  the  "Description  of  Louisiana/'  from  which  the  fore- 
going quotations  are  taken,  Hennepin  says  that  the  captivity 
among  the  Sioux  prevented  an  exploration  of  the  lower  Missis- 
sippi to  its  mouth,  which  he  and  his  two  companions  had  wished 
to  undertake.  The  map  accompanying  this  first  publication  of 
Hennepin  therefore  showed  the  lower  and  unexplored  part  of 
the  great  river  by  a  dotted  line,  which  has  nearly  the  true  course, 
running  to  the  middle  of  the  north  side  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 

But  the  second  work  narrating  Hennepin's  travels,  entitled 
"New  Discovery,"  etc.,  published  fourteen  years  later,  in  1697, 
contains  an  account  of  a  purported  voyage  of  these  three  French- 
men in  their  canoe  to  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi.  According 
to  this  account,  which  is  inserted  with  an  explanation  of  its 
omission  from  the  earlier  book,  they  started  south  from  the 
mouth  of  the  Illinois  river  on  the  8th  of  March,  1680;  reached 
the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi,  which  is  nearly  1300  miles  dis- 
tant by  the  course  of  the  river  from  the  Illinois,  on  the  25th  of 
that  month;  and,  during  their  return  up  the  Mississippi,  left  the 
village  of  the  Akansa  Indians  on  the  24th  of  April.  This  vil- 
lage, near  the  mouth  of  the  Arkansas  river,  had  been  the  limit  of 
the  voyage  of  Joliet  and  Marquette  in  1673,  canoeing  down  the 
Mississippi  through  622  miles  of  the  winding  river  course,  as 
exactly  known  by  our  present  accurate  maps,  from  the  Illinois 
river  to  the  Arkansas.  On  Hennepin's  map  in  this  work,  the 
Mississippi  is  shown  erroneously  as  flowing  into  the  northwestern 
part  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  agreeing  thus  with  the  mistaken 
opinion  of  La  Salle,  derived  from  his  navigation  of  its  lower 
part  in  1682. 

Farther  on  in  the  same  work,  the  narration  of  Hennepin 
is  resumed  nearly  as  in  his  earlier  book,  telling  of  his  meeting 
the  Sioux  warriors  on  his  voyage  up  the  Mississippi  and  being 
taken  into  captivity  by  them  on  the  12th  of  April,  one  day  later 
than  the  date  given  in  the  "Description  of  Louisiana,"  but  sev- 


238  MINNESOTA  IX  THREE  CENTURIES. 

eral  weeks  earlier  than  could  possibly  be  consistent  with  the 
dates  assigned  for  the  pretended  trip  down  the  Mississippi  and 
the  return. 

Not  only  is  it  thus  falsely  claimed  that  Hennepin  explored 
the  lower  Mississippi  in  1680,  two  years  before  the  canoe  expedi- 
tion down  this  river  to  its  mouth  by  La  Salle,  but  the  story 
thus  inserted  in  Hennepin's  second  work  is  made  up  largely,  as 
shown  by  Sparks  and  Parkman,  from  the  journal  of  Father 
Zenobe  Membre,  on  his  descent  of  the  Mississippi  in  the  expedi- 
tion of  La  Salle.  The  falsity  of  this  part  of  the  "New  Discov- 
ery," its  chronologic  inconsistency  with  other  parts  of  that  work 
and  with  the  earlier  "Description  of  Louisiana,"  and  the  plag- 
iarism from  Membre,  are  in  very  remarkable  contrast  with  the 
earlier  work  of  Hennepin,  which  seems  to  be  wholly  his  own 
writing  and  is  apparently  truthful  throughout,  excepting  oc- 
casional mistakes  of  memory  and  a  tendency  to  exaggerate  the 
importance  of  the  writer  as  compared  with  his  associates. 

It  was  therefore  suggested  by  Shea  in  the  preface  of  his 
translation  of  the  "Description  of  Louisiana,"  and  in  his  bio- 
graphic sketch  of  Hennepin,  introductory  to  the  same  work, 
that  the  false  and  plagiarized  narration  of  a  voyage,  on  the 
lower  Mississippi,  in  the  "New  Discovery,"  was  inserted  by  an 
unscrupulous  editor,  without  Hennepin's  consent  or  knowledge. 
The  same  defense  of  Hennepin  was  also  urged  by  Archbishop 
Ireland  in  his  eloquent  address  at  the  celebration  in  Minneapolis 
on  July  3,  1880,  of  the  Bicentenary  of  Hennepin's  discovery  of 
the  Falls  of  St.  Anthony  (reported  in  Volume  VI,  Minnesota 
Historical  Society  Collections,  pages  29-74). 

Later  students  of  the  writings  and  character  of  Hennepin, 
however,  have  agreed  with  the  earlier  judgment  of  Spark?,  Park- 
man,  Neill,  and  others,  that  it  is  impossible  to  absolve  Hennepin 
from  falsification,  involving  the  intent  to  rob  La  Salle  of  prior- 
ity in  discovery.  It  is  to  be  much  regretted,  if  Hennepin  was 
innocent  of  complicity  in  these  false  statements,  that  we  have  na 
record  of  his  denial  and  remonstrances  against  them. 

When  a  traveler  from  America  told  his  story  in  Europe, 
there  was  much  temptation  to  overstep  the  bounds  of  truth. 


DU  LUTH  AND  HENNEPIN.  239 

for  immediate  applause  or  promotion,  without  prospect  of  speedy 
detection  in  falsehoods  that  related  to  such  new  and  distant 
countries.  Furthermore,  the  recognized  standard  of  obligation  to 
speak  or  write  only  the  truth  was  not  then  so  high  and  un- 
varying as  it  is  now;  else  we  should  not  have  the  shame  that 
three  among  the  earliest  authors  who  narrate  explorations  in 
Minnesota,  Eadisson,  Hennepin,  and  Lahontan,  should  each 
have  erred  in  that  direction. 

LAHONTAN   AND    HIS    FICTITIOUS    LONG   RIVER. 

This  place  seems  most  suitable  for  a  brief  reference  to  the 
egregious  fiction  of  an  exploration  in  the  south  part  of  Min- 
nesota, which  became  a  stumblingblock  of  historians  and  geo- 
graphers, occurring  in  the  very  interesting  writings  of  Louis- 
Armand  de  Lorn  d'  Arce,  the  Baron  de  Lahontan.  He  was 
born  at  the  little  village  of  Lahontan,  in  southwestern  France, 
June  9,  1666.  As  a  soldier  of  the  French  colonial  army,  the 
young  baron  came  to  America  in  1683,  at  the  age  of  seventeen 
years.  His  military  duty  took  him  to  Fort  St.  Joseph,  at  the 
mouth  of  Lake  Huron,  and  to  Mackinac,  where  he  might  readily 
learn  from  French  fur  traders  and  voyageurs  so  much  as  he 
tells  us  of  the  upper  Mississippi  region.  After  varied  for- 
tunes and  a  very  adventurous  career  of  ten  years  in  the  service 
of  New  France,  latest  in  its  province  of  Newfoundland,  Lahontan 
deserted  his  post  of  duty  as  a  trusted  officer  of  the  French  govern- 
ment in  that  bleak  island  province.  Henceforward  to  the  end  of 
his  life,  probably  in  1715,  he  was  an  exile  and  wandered  in 
Holland,  Denmark,  Germany,  Spain,  and  England. 

In  1703,  at  the  Hague,  Lahontan's  narrative  of  his  travels 
was  published  in  three  volumes,  written  in  his  native  French 
language.  Later  in  the  same  year,  an  English  translation  of 
this  work,  with  changes  and  additions,  was  issued  in  London, 
entitled  "New  Voyages  to  North- America."  These  books,  like 
those  of  Hennepin,  attained  a  great  popularity,  and  passed 
through  several  other  French  and  English  editions,  a  transla- 
tion into  German  in  1711,  and  into  the  Dutch  language  in  1730. 


240  MINNESOTA  IN  THEEE  CENTUKIES. 

American  and  English  readers  of  today  a*re  greatly  indebted 
to  Dr.  Reuben  Gold  Thwaites,  secretary  of  the  Wisconsin  His- 
torical Society,  for  his  recent  publications  of  Hennepin's  "Xew 
Discovery"  and  Lahontan's  "New  Voyages,"  each  reprinted  in 
two  volumes  from  their  very  rare  early  English  issues,  the 
former  being  thus  published  in  1903  and  the  latter  in  1905. 
In  his  introductions  of  these  new  editions,  Thwaites  gives  ex- 
tended biographic  sketches  of  Hennepin  and  Lahontan,  with 
valuable  comments  on  their  writings;  and  bibliographies  of  each 
are  contributed  by  Mr.  Victor  Hugo  Paltsits,  noting  all  pre- 
ceding editions  of  their  works. 

It  is  very  improbable  that  Lahontan  ever  came  into  the 
area  of  Minnesota,  or  indeed  ever  traveled  so  far  westward 
as  to  see  the  Mississippi  river;  but  he  impiously  exclaims  in  be- 
ginning the  Munchausenlike  part  of  his  work  relating  his  ficti- 
tious journey  in  the  winter  of  1688-89,  in  exploration  of  an  im- 
possibly long  river,  tributary  to  the  Mississippi  from  the  west 
in  the  region  of  southern  Minnesota,  "Thank  God,  I  am  now 
return'd  from  my  Voyage  upon  the  Long  River,  which  falls 
into  the  River  of  Missisipi."  His  descriptions  and  map  of  this 
great  stream,  of  its  Indian  tribes,  and  of  the  country  and  tribes 
reported  to  him  beyond  the  limit  of  his  travel,  are  wholly  a 
gross  and  baseless  fiction. 

Concerning  Lahontan's  claim  to  have  thus  voyaged  far  west 
of  the  Mississippi,  Thwaites  writes  as  follows: 

Many  hypotheses  have  been  advanced,  to  account  for  Lahontan's 
wilful  tale.  The  theory  of  interpolation,  sometimes  applied  to  Hennepin, 
has  been  suggested  in  this  case;  but  the  style  of  the  baron's  story  of 
his  far  Western  tour  is  quite  in  keeping  with  that  of  the  entire  work — 
Letters  and  Dialogue  carry,  throughout,  the  evidence  of  coming  from 
one  and  the  same  hand.  Others  have  seen  in  the  narrative  of  the 
journey  only  exaggeration  of  possible  facts,  and  have  sought  to  identify 
the  fabulous  waterway  with  the  St.  Peter's  (present  Minnesota),  whose 
latitude  somewhat  closely  corresponds  with  Lahontan's  River  Long. 
*  *  Those  who  have  studied  the  subject  more  carefully — such  as 
the  baron's  latest  biographer,  Edmond  Roy — point  out  the  impossibility 
of  reconciling  the  pretended  voyage  with  the  rest  of  the  author's  des- 
criptions. *  *  * 


DU  LUTH  AND  HEKtfEPIN.  241 

In  Roy's  opinion,  the  impecunious  fugitive,  eager  for  quick  re- 
turns, doubtless  thought  the  unvarnished  record  of  a  simple  officer,  now 
in  disgrace,  would  attract  few  buyers  for  the  volume;  he  must,  in  order 
to  secure  patronage  and  readers,  pose  as  a  discoverer,  and  imitate  the 
achievements  of  Marquette  and  La  Salle.  Possibly  he  may  have  en- 
tertained a  distant  hope  of  being  again  despatched  to  his  beloved  wilder- 
ness, on  a  mission  of  further  exploration  and  discovery.  In  the  interior 
of  America  he  had  spent  many  days  with  Perrot  and  Duluth,  who 
knew  the  West  as  probably  no  other  while  men  did.  Out  of  their  re- 
ports, the  published  accounts  of  Membre,  La  Salle,  Marquette,  and 
Hennepin,  and  chance  information  received  from  the  Indians,  he  may 
have  obtained  the  material  for  the  tale  of  his  marvelous  journey,  and 
imposed  it  upon  the  public  for  the  sake  of  gain. 


I.-U 


Chapter  VIII. 
PERROT  AND  LE  SUEUR. 

LIKE    the    happy    change    from    darkness    and    disturbing 
dreams    to    awaking    and   right    seeing   in    the    sunshine 
of  a  fair  morning,   come  the  less  voluminous   and   less 
pretentious    but    unimpeachably    and    entirely    truthful    memoirs 
of  Perrot  and  Le  Sueur,  the  next  great  pioneers  and  leaders  in 
commercial  and  industrial  enterprises  within  the  borders  of  Min- 
nesota. 

The  work  of  Perrot  indeed  belonged  mostly  to  Wiscon- 
sin and  only  to  the  edge  of  this  state,  but  he  was  for*  many  years 
the  foremost  fur  trader  and  most  influential  mediator  in  all 
councils  among  the  Indians  tribes  of  this  region,  his  principal 
trading  posts  being  on  the  Wisconsin  shores  of  Lake  Pepin  and 
of  the  Mississippi  below  this  lake.  Le  Sueur,  who  during  sev- 
eral years  was  an  associate  with  Perrot,  traveled  far  up  the 
Mississippi  in  central  Minnesota,  was  the  first  to  bring  a  chief 
of  the  Sioux  to  Lower  Canada,  and  led  a  great  mining  expedi- 
tion in  the  year  1700  to  open  mines  of  a  supposed  copper  ore  on 
the  Blue  Earth  river. 

BIOGRAPHIC  SKETCH  OF  PERROT. 

Nicolas  Perrot  was  born  in  1644;  came  to  New  France  in 
his  boyhood  or  youth;  spent  four  or  five  years  in  the  service  of 
Jesuit  missionaries,  thus  acquiring  much  knowledge  of  the  Algon- 
quian  tribes  and  their  languages;  and  in  1665,  at  the  age  of 
about  twenty-one  years,  he  came  to  the  Pottawatamies  in  the 

243 


244  MINNESOTA  IX  'I'll REE  CEN'ITl!]  !•>. 

region  of  Green  bay,  Wisconsin,  as  a  fur  trader.  Finding  that 
people  on  the  point  of  going  to  war  against  the  Mcnominees, 
he  interposed  successfully  as  a  peacemaker.  Later  he  visited 
the  Sac  and  Fox  tribes,  the  Miamis  and  Mascoutins,  and  pro- 
bably almost  every  other  Indian  tribe  between  Lake  Michigan 
and  the  Mississippi  river,  bringing  them  all  into  friendly  al- 
liance with  the  French.  In  the  spring  of  1670,  Perrot  and  four 
other  Frenchmen  returned  to  Montreal,  accompanied  by  about 
nine  hundred  Indians  from  the  upper  Great  Lakes,  their  canoes 
being  laden  with  a  large  freight  of  furs. 

In  the  summer  and  autumn  of  this  year  1670,  an  important 
plan  was  formed  by  the  government  of  New  France  to  secure 
acknowledgment  of  its  sovereignty  from  the  many  Indian  peoples 
about  lakes  Huron,  Michigan,  and  Superior.  Perrot  WRS  selec- 
ted to  summon  delegaEons  of  these  tribes  to  meet  St.  Lusson. 
who  was  the  commissioner  for  making  the  ceremonious  treaty 
and  proclamation.  It  was  hoped  thus  to  prevent  these  Indians 
from  trading  with  the  English  on  Hudson  bay. 

St.  Lusson,  Perrot,  and  their  little  party  of  Frenchmen, 
came  from  Quebec  and  Montreal  by  the  usual  canoe  route  of  the 
Ottawa  and  Mattawa  rivers  to  the  north  part  of  Lake  Huron 
late  in  the  autumn.  There  St.  Lusson  wintered  on  Manitoulin 
island,  while  Perrot,  having  first  sent  invitations  to  the  tribes 
north  of  lakes  Huron  and  Superior,  went  onward  to  Green  bay 
and  thence  by  Indian  messengers  notified  the  tribes  throughout 
Wisconsin  and  west  of  Lake  Superior.  The  appointed  rendez- 
vous was  the  Sault  Ste.  Marie,  where  on  the  14th  of  June,  1671. 
the  chiefs  and  other  representatives  of  these  Indian  nations  gave 
their  assent  to  the  proclamation  of  St.  Lusson,  that  the  King 
of  France,  Louis  XIV,  was  their  sovereign  and  protector. 

After  this  grand  ceremony,  Perrot  soon  returned  to  Lower 
Canada,  married  a  wife  who  had  considerable  wealth,  and  re- 
sided about  ten  years  at  Becancour,  near  Three  Eivers. 

During  the  next  eighteen  years,  from  1681  to  1699,  Perrot 
made  numerous  western  journeys,  and  indeed  lived  mostly  in  the 
far  west,  for  promoting  the  interests  of  the  French  fur  trade 
with  the  Indians.  He  was  repeatedly  appointed  by  the  colonial 


PE1UIOT  AND  LE  SUEUR.  245 

government  to  positions  of  authority  and  leadership,  in  1684 
securing  an  alliance  of  the  tribes  of  Wisconsin  for  a  campaign 
against  the  Iroquois,  and  in  the  next  year  averting  threatened 
warfare  between  the  Foxes  and  the  Ojibways. 

Probably  as  early  as  in  1683,  Perrot  established  a  trading 
post  which  was  named  Fort  St.  Nicholas,  on  the  Mississippi 
close  above  the  mouth  of  the  Wisconsin  river.  In  1685  he  began 
to  trade  more  extensively  with  the  Sioux  of  Iowa  and  southern 
Minnesota,  for  which  purpose  he  built  a  temporary  trading  post 
on  the  east  side  of  the  Mississippi  river  near  Trempealeau,  and 
afterward  the  post  called  Fort  St.  Antoine,  which  was  occupied 
many  years,  on  the  northeastern  shore  of  Lake  Pepin  about  six 
miles  from  its  mouth.  He  also  had  a  post  on  the  Minnesota 
shore  of  this  lake  at  its  outlet,  called  Fort  Perrot;  but  this  was 
of  small  importance  in  comparison  with  Fort  St.  Antoine,  his 
most  northern  post.  Farther  south  than  all  these  trading  posts, 
another  was  built  by  Perrot  in  the  vicinity  of  the  present  lead 
mines  of  Galena  and  Dubuque,  some  of  which  he  tested  and 
slightly  worked. 

In  1687,  Perrot  joined  Durantaye  and  Tonty  in  leading  a 
second  expedition  of  the  Indian  warriors  of  the  west  against 
their  dreaded  eastern  enemies,  the  Iroquois.  In  1689,  at  Fort 
St.  Antoine,  Perrot  ceremoniously  proclaimed  his  taking  pos- 
session, for  the  King  of  France,  of  all  the  upper  Mississippi 
region  inhabited  by  the  Sioux,  thus  in  a  formal  declaration 
adding  to  New  France  the  greater  part  of  the  present  state  of 
Minnesota.  Through  the  ensuing  ten  years  he  was  continually 
active,  traveling  far  and  wide  between  Montreal  and  the  Mis- 
sissippi, and  several  times  hazarded  his  life  in  allaying  quarrels 
among  the  western  tribes  and  holding  them  at  peace  with  each 
other. 

After  1699,  when  Louis  XIV.  ordered  all  the  western  trad- 
ing posts  to  be  abandoned,  recalling  the  traders  and  soldiers 
to  Lower  Canada,  Perrot  passed  the  remainder  of  his  life  there, 
in  retirement  at  his  home  on  the  St.  Lawrence.  It  is  known  that 
he  lived  till  1718,  but  the  time  of  his  death  is  not  recorded. 


246  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 


WRITINGS    OF   PERROT. 

The  first  paper  published  by  the  Parkman  Club  of  Milwau- 
kee, in  fifteen  pages,  dated  in  1895,  by  Gardner  P.  Stickney,  en- 
titled "Nicholas  Perrot,  a  Study  in  Wisconsin  Histor}-,"  presents 
an  excellent  summary  of  his  career  and  a  brief  notice  of  his 
writings. 

Perrot's  manuscripts,  listed  by  Tailhan,  were  as  follows: 

I.  Memoir  on  the  Outagami  or  Fox  Indians,  addressed  to 
the   Marquis   de  Vaudreuil   in  1716; 

II.  Several  memoirs,  on  the  wars  of  the  Iroquois  against 
the  Illinois  and  the  nations  of  the  upper  Great  Lakes,  and  also 
on  the  treacheries  of  the  savages  and  in  particular  of  the  Ot- 
tawas  and  Hurons; 

III.  Memoir  on  the  manners,  customs,  and  religion  of  the 
savages  of  North  America. 

The  third  of  these  works,  which  mentions  the  others,  is 
the  only  one  that  has  been  preserved,  being  published  in  1864, 
in  its  original  French,  by  the  Jesuit  Father,  Rev.  J.  Tailhan, 
with  extensive  and  very  useful  notes.  Of  this  memoir  Mr.  Stick- 
ney writes: 

Some  authorities  think  that  this  manuscript  was  written  in  Per- 
rot's later  years,  after  his  retirement  from  active  life;  but  Harrisse, 
whose  opinion  is  entitled  to  consideration,  says  that  it  bears  evidence 
of  having  been  composed  year  by  year  from  16C5  until  his  death. 

The  volume  as  published  is  a  small  octavo  of  three  hundred  and 
eighty-one  pages.  Perrot's  matter  fills  one  hundred  and  fifty-six  pages, 
Tailhan's  notes  and  index  the  rest. 

The  first  twelve  chapters  are  devoted  to  the  religious  beliefs  and 
superstitions  of  the  Indians;  their  marriages  and  funeral  ceremonies; 
their  games  and  hunting  customs,  and  the  manner  of  their  daily  life. 

The  following  sixteen  chapters  are  more  of  the  nature  of  a  journal, 
and  embrace  accounts  of  various  expeditions  against  the  Iroquois,  St. 
Lusson's  ceremonies  at  Sault  Ste.  Marie,  and  other  actions  in  which 
Perrot  was  concerned,  or  of  which  he  had  immediate  knowledge. 

Tailhan's  notes  are  excellent.  They  include  long  explanatory  ex- 
tracts from  the  Relations,  the  Lcttres  Edifiantes,  Charlevoix,  Annalea 
de  la  Propagation  de  la  Foi,  and  other  authorities,  corroborative  of 
Perrot's  statements. 


PEEEOT  AND  LE  SUEUK.  247 

As  might  be  expected,  Perrot'a  style  is  rude,  and  oftentimes  in- 
volved. Taking  Tailhan's  notes  in  connection  with  the  text,  however, 
one  cannot  help  being  impressed  by  Perrot's  fidelity  to  fact,  and  his 
modesty,  which  are  assuredly  the  essentials  in  a  work  of  this  character. 

A  translation  from  this  memoir  of  Perrot,  giving  his  account 
of  the  western  wanderings  of  the  Huron  and  Ottawa  Indians, 
after  they  were  driven  from  their  homes  by  the  attacks  of  the 
Iroquois,  has  been  given  in  a  preceding  chapter  of  the  present 
volume  (under  "Hurons"  in  Chapter  V).  Their  settlement  for 
a  few  years  on  Prairie  island  of  the  Mississippi  river,  thus 
narrated  by  Perrot,  is  a  strong  confirmation  of  my  identifica- 
tion of  that  island  as  Eadisson's  "first  landing  isle." 

An  interesting  paper  by  the  late  Alfred  J.  Hill,  of  St. 
Paul,  on  "The  Geography  of  Perrot,  so  far  as  it  relates  to  Min- 
nesota and  the  regions  immediately  adjacent,"  was  published 
in  the  Minnesota  Historical  Society  Collections,  Volume  II, 
pages  200-214,  in  1867. 

PROCLAMATION  AT  FORT  ST.  ANTOINE  IS  1689. 

The  earliest  state  paper  having  particular  reference  to  the 
area  of  Minnesota  was  a  declaration  proclaimed  by  Perrot  at 
his  Fort  St.  Antoine  (Post  St.  Anthony)  on  May  8,  1689,  which 
is  preserved  in  the  Colonial  Archives  -of  France.  Its  transla- 
tion by  Dr.  E.  B.  O'Callahan,  published  in  1855  in  Documents 
relating  to  the  Colonial  History  of  the  State  of  New  York 
(Volume  IX,  page  418),  is  as  follows: 

Canada,     Bay     des     Puants. 

Record  of  the  taking  possession,  in  his  Majesty's  name,  of 
the  Bay  des  Puants  [Green  bay],  of  the  lake  and 
rivers  of  the  Outagamis  and  Maskoutins  [Fox  River  and 
Lake  Winnebago],  of  the  river  Ouiskonche  [Wisconsin]., 
and  that  of  the  Missiscipi,  the  country  of  the  Nadoue- 
sioux  [the  Sioux  or  Dakota  Indians],  the  rivers  St. 
Croix  and  St.  Peter,  and  other  places  more  remote. 
8th  May,  1689. 

Nicholas  Perrot,  commanding  for  the  King  at  the  post  of  the  Na- 
douesioux,  commissioned  by  the  Marquis  de  Denonville,  Governor  and 


248  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 

Lieutenant  General  of  all  New  France,  to  manage  the  interests  of 
Commerce  among  all  the  Indian  tribes  and  peoples  of  the  Bay  des 
Puants,  Xadouesioux,  Mascoutins  and  other  Western  Nations  of  the 
Upper  Mississipi,  and  to  take  possession,  in  the  King's  name,  of  all  the 
places  where  he  has  heretofore  been,  and  whither  he  will  go. 

We  this  day,  the  eighth  of  May  one  thousand  six  hundred  and 
eighty  [-nine]  do,  in  presence  of  the  Reverend  Father  Marest  of  the 
Society  of  Jesus,  Missionary  among  the  Nadouesioux;  of  Monsieur  de 
Borie-Guillot,  commanding  the  French  in  the  neighborhood  of  Ouiskonche 
on  the  Mississipi;  Augustin  Legardeur  Esquire,  Sieur  de  Caumont,  and 
of  Messieurs  Le  Sueur,  Hebert,  Lemire  and  Blein; 

Declare  to  all  whom  it  may  Concern,  that  having  come  from  the 
Bay  des  Puants  and  to  the  lake  of  the  Ouiskonches  and  to  the  river 
Mississipi,  we  did  transport  ourselves  to  the  Country  of  the  Nadoue- 
sioux on  the  border  of  the  River  Saint  Croix  and  at  the  mouth  of 
the  River  Saint  Peter,  on  the  bank  of  which  were  the  Mantantans,  and 
farther  up  into  the  interior  to  the  North  east  of  the  Mississippi  as  far 
as  the  Menchokatonx  with  whom  dwell  the  majority  of  the  Songeskitons 
and  other  Nadouessioux,  who  are  to  the  North  east  of  the  Mississippi, 
to  take  possession  for,  and  in  the  name  of  the  King,  of  the  countries 
and  rivers  inhabited  by  the  said  Tribes  and  of  which  they  are  proprie- 
tors. The  present  Act  done  in  our  presence,  Signed  with  our  hand,  and 
subscribed  by  the  Reverend  Father  Marest,  Messieurs  de  Borie-guillot 
and  Caumont,  and  the  Sieurs  Le  Sueur,  Hebert,  Lemire  and  Blein. 

Done  at  the  Post  St.  Anthony,  the  day  and  year  aforesaid.  These 
presents  are  in  duplicate;  Signed  to  the  Original — Joseph  Jean  Marest 
of  the  Society  of  Jesus;  N.  Perot,  Legardeur  de  Caumont,  Le  Sueur; 
Jean  Hebert,  Joseph  Lemire  and  F.  Blein. 

Previous  proclamations  of  St.  Lusson  in  1671  at  the  outlet  of 
Lake  Superior,  of  Du  Luth  in  1679  at  the  west  end  of  this 
Jake  and  at  Mille  Lacs,  and  of  La  Salle  in  1682  at  the  mouth 
of-  the  Mississippi,  had  in  general  terms  asserted  the  soveriegnty 
of  France  over  the  basins  of  the  upper  Great  Lakes  and  the 
Mississippi. 

Within  the  decade  following  the  ceremonious  declarations 
hy  DuLuth,  which  were  not  preserved  in  writing,  considerable 
exploration  of  the  southeastern  part  of  Minnesota  had  been 
made  by  Perrot  or  by  Le  Sueur  and  others  under  his  supervision. 
His  proclamation  mentions  the  rivers  St.  Croix  and  St.  Peter 
as  already  well  known  by  these  names.  The  latter  is  the  Min- 
nesota river,  to  which  long  afterwards  this  euphonious  Sioux 


PEEBOT  AXD  LE  SUEUE.  249 

name  was  restored  in  the  usage  of  the  white  men,  when  it  was 
chosen   as   the   name   of   our  territory-  and   state. 

There  is  no  record  of  Perrot's  calling  together  the  Indian 
chiefs  of  this  region  on  the  occasion  of  the  declaration  at 
Fort  St.  Antoine,  nor  of  their  assent  to  its  claim  of  French 
dominion.  It  was  an  official  act,  probably  indeed  announced 
and  explained  to  some  of  the  chiefs  of  the  Sioux  and  other 
tribes  mentioned,  but  performed  mainly  because  it  had  been  re- 
quired by  the  Governor  of  Xew  France  to  form  a  part  of  his  re- 
ports to  the  King. 

BIOGEAPHIC   SKETCH  OF  LE   SUETTK. 

Pierre  Charles  Le  Sueur  was  born  in  1657,  of  parents  who 
had  emigrated  to  Canada  from  the  ancient  province  of  Artois 
in  northern  France.  He  came  to  the  Mississippi  by  way 
of  the  Wisconsin  river,  probably  with  Perrot,  in  1683,  his  age 
being  then  twenty-six  years.  The  remaining  years  of  the  cen- 
'tury,  excepting  expeditions  for  the  sale  of  furs  in  Montreal  and 
absence  in  voyages  to  France,  he  spent  principally  in  the  country 
of  the  Sioux  or  Dakotas,  on  the  upper  Mississippi  and  on  the 
Minnesota  river. 

He  was  at  Fort  St.  Antoine,  on  the  eastern  shore  of  Lake 
Pepin,  with  Perrot  at  the  time  of  his  proclamation  in  1689,  which 
he  signed  as  a  witness.  At  some  time  within  a  few  years  preced- 
ing or  following  that  date  he  made  a  canoe  trip  far  up  the 
Mississippi,  this  being  the  first  recorded  exploration  of  its 
course  through  the  central  part  of  our  state. 

In  1693,  Le  Sueur  was  stationed,  by  order  of  Count  Fron- 
tenac,  the  governor  of  Canada,  at  Chequamegon  bay,  on  the 
southwest  side  of  Lake  Superior,  for  maintaining  peace  between 
the  Ojibways  and  the  Sioux,  his  influence  with  the  latter  being 
great. 

Two  years  afterward,  in  the  spring  of  1695,  he  established 
a  trading  post  on  Isle  Pelee,  now  Prairie  island,  where  Groseil- 
liers  and  Eadisson  visited  and  lived  with  the  Hurons  forty  years 
before.  This  post,  or  fort,  as  it  was  called,  was  built  likewise 


250  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 

at  the  command  of  Frontenac,  for  the  same  purpose  of  prevent- 
ing the  Ojibways  on  the  northeast,  in  the  Lake  Superior  region, 
and  the  Sioux  or  Dakotas  of  the  upper  Mississippi,  from  con- 
tinuing or  renewing  their  hereditary  warfare.  Early  in  the  sum- 
mer of  this  year,  Le  Sueur  traveled  to  Montreal,  accompanied 
by  a  chief  of  the  Ojibways,  named  Chingouabe  and  a  chief  of 
llu-  Dakotas,  named  Tioscate,  the  latter  being  the  first  of  that 
people  to  visit  Canada. 

On  the  18th  of  July,  1695,  at  Montreal,  Frontenac  granted 
an  audience  to  these  chiefs,  in  the  presence  of  several  of  his  offi- 
cers. The  Ojibway  spoke  first,  in  thanks  for  the  advantages  re- 
ceived by  his  people  through  the  French  fur  trade,  and  requesting 
that  Le  Sueur,  because  of  his  knowledge  of  both  the  Ojibway  and' 
Dakota  languages,  should  return  to  their  country.  The  Dakota 
chief  laid  down  the  skins  of  a  beaver  and  an  otter,  and,  weeping, 
implored  that  the  governor  would  give  friendship  and  protection, 
by  selling  to  his  people  iron  weapons  like  those  already  obtained 
by  other  tribes.  He  laid  twenty-two  arrows  on  the  beaver  skin, 
naming  as  many  villages  of  his  people,  in  the  present  area  of 
Minnesota,  who  thus  desired  to  trade  with  the  French. 

It  was  Le  Sueur^s  promise  and  intention  to  return  the  next 
spring  to  Minnesota,  but  the  death  of  this  Dakota  chief  at 
Montreal  in  the  winter,  after  a  sickness  of  a  month,  changed 
his  plan.  He  had  discovered  mineral  wealth,  as  he  thought,  in 
the  blue  and  green  earth  which  the  Dakotas  dug  from  the  rock 
bluff  of  the  Blue  Earth  river  a  few  miles  from  its  junction  with 
the  Minnesota  river,  near  the  site  of  Mankato.  The  Dakota 
people  used  this  earth  as  a  paint,  but  Le  Sueur  thought  it  to  be 
an  ore  of  copper.  He  sailed  to  France,  submitted  the  supposed 
ore  to  L'Huillier,  one  of  the  king's  assayers,  and  secured  the 
royal  commission  to  work  the  mines.  But  disasters  and  obstacles 
deterred  him  from  this  project  until  four  years  later,  when, 
having  come  from  a  third  visit  in  France,  with  thirty  miners,  to 
Biloxi,  near  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi,  he  ascended  this  river 
in  the  year  1700,  using  a  sailing  and  rowing  vessel  and  two 
canoes.  Coming  forward  along  the  Minnesota  river,  he  reached 
the  mouth  of  the  Blue  Earth  on  the  last  day  in  September  or  the 
first  in  October. 


PERROT  AND  LE   SUEUE.  251 

He  spent  the  ensuing  winter  on  the  Blue  Earth  river, 
having  built  a  camp  or  post  named  Fort  L'Huillier,  and  in  the 
spring  mined  a  large  quantity  of  the  supposed  copper  ore. 
Taking  a  selected  portion  of  the  ore,  amounting  to  two  tons, 
and  leaving  a  garrison  at  the  fort,  Le  Sueur  again  navigated 
nearly  the  whole  length  of  the  Mississippi,  and  arrived  at  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico  in  February,  1702.  Thence,  with  Iberville, 
the  founder  and  first  governor  of  Louisiana,  who  was  a  cousin 
of  Le  Sueur's  wife,  he  sailed  for  France  in  the  later  part  of 
April,  carrying  the  ore  or  green  earth,  of  which,  however,  nothing 
more  is  known. 

Records  in  Canada  preserve  the  date  of  LeSueur's  marriage, 
at  Boucherville,  March  29,  1690,  to  Marguerite  Messier,  whose 
mother,  as  Dr.  Neill,  the  historian  of  Minnesota,  ascertained, 
was  a  sister  of  Iberville's  father.  Le  Sueur  had  four  children, 
three  daughters  and  a  son.  A  letter  of  Cadillac,  written  in 
1712,  cited  in  the  Margry  Papers,  states  that  after  the  appoint-: 
rnent  of  Iberville  to  Louisiana,  Le  Sueur  had  his  family  re- 
move there,  and  that  they  were  then  living  in  Louisiana,  where 
Le  Sueur  had  died  of  sickness.  Another  account  indicates  thai; 
he  died  during  his  return  voyage  from  France. 

It  was  probably  his  son,  Jean  Paul  Le  Sueur,  born  in 
Canada,  June  1,  1697,  who  was  active  in  the  Natchez  war,  in 
1730  and  1731.  Charlevoix,  as  translated  by  Shea,  said  of  this 
Le  Sueur  that  he  "had  come  when  quite  young  from  his  native 
Canada  to  Louisiana,  and  had  grown  up  among  these  tribes 
[Choctaws,  Natchez,  and  others].  *  *  *  With  great  toil  he 
visited  all  the  villages  [of  the  Choctaws] ;  he  was  well  received 
everywhere,  and  had  no  great  difficulty  in  forming  the  corps  of 
seven  hundred  warriors  *  *  *  whom  he  led  straight  against 
the  Natchez."  Shea  and  others  have  not  clearly  distinguished 
this  Le  Sueur  from  the  explorer  of  Minnesota;  but,  as  before 
stated,  Pierre  Charles  Le  Sueur  is  said  by  different  authors  to 
have  died  before  1712,  and  the  work  done  in  the  Natchez  war, 
as  here  noted  and  attributed  to  Jean  Paul  Le  Sueur,  seems  im- 
possible to  anyone  at  an  age  of  more  than  seventy  years. 

Within  the  first  few  years  after  Le  Sueur  came  to  the  upper 
Mississippi  and  to  the  area  of  this  state,  he  had  acquired  ac- 


252  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 

(juaintaiuv  with  the  language  of  the  Sioux,  and  had  almost  cer- 
tainly traveled  with  them  along  the  Minnesota  river.  From  his 
first  Christian  name,  Pierre,  as  Neill  and  Winsor  think,  with 
whom  I  fully  coincide,  came  the  French  name  St.  Pierre,  in 
English  the  St.  Peter,  by  which  this  river  was  known  to  the 
\\hite  people  through  more  than  a  century  and  a  half,  until  its 
aboriginal  Sioux  name  was  adopted  for  the  new  Territory  of 
Minnesota. 

We  possess  little  of  Le  Sueur's  own  writing,  but  good  ac- 
counts of  his  life  and  work  have  come  down  in  the  narrations  of 
others.  He  was  a  man  to  be  relied  on  for  successful  leadership 
in  great  and  difficult  enterprises,  not  inclined  to  boast,  and  a 
strict  adherent  to  truthfulness.  During  the  hundred  years  of 
French  occupation  of  what  is  now  Minnesota,  Le  Sueur  surpassed 
any  other  man,  excepting  perhaps  Perrot,  in  the  extension  of 
geographic  knowledge  of  its  area,  in  his  acquaintance  with  the 
Dakota  people  and  influence  in  their  councils,  and  in  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  fur  trade  and  other  commercial  development  of 
this  region. 

NARRATIONS  OF  LE  SUEUR  AND  PENICAUT. 

An  account  of  the  expedition  By  Le  Sueur  in  the  year  1700 
for  mining  on  the  Blue  Earth  river  is  preserved  in  the  "Histori- 
cal Journal  of  the  Settlement  of  the  French  in  Louisiana,"  by 
Benard  de  la  Harpe,  published  in  the  French  language  at  New 
Orleans  in  1831.  This  narration  is  called  Le  Sueur's  journal, 
though  he  is  constantly  mentioned  as  if  it  was  written  by  some 
other  person.  A  translation  of  it  in  English  was  published  in 
1861  by  John  Gilmary  Shea  in  "Early  Voyages  up  and  down 
the  Mississippi"  (pages  89-111),  from  which  considerable  quota- 
tions are  made  in  a  later  part  of  this  chapter. 

The  same  narration,  in  its  original  French,  is  also  pub- 
lished in  the  Margry  Papers  (Volume  VI,  1886,  pages  69-87). 

Another  account  of  this  expedition  was  given  in  an  exten- 
sive manuscript  written  by  Pemcaiit,  a  ship  carpenter,  who  ac- 
companied Le.  Sueur,  and  who  later  spent  about  twenty  years 


PERROT  AND  LE  SUEUR.  253 

among  the  Indian  tribes  of  the  lower  Mississippi.  From  this 
manuscript,  purchased  in  1869  by  the  Library  of  Congress,  the 
part  narrating  the  mining  expedition  was  translated  by  Alfred 
J.  Hill  and  was  published  in  1870,  with  an  introductory  note  by 
Rev.  Edward  D.  Neill,  as  the  first  paper  in  the  third  volume  of 
the  Minnesota  Historical  Society  Collections  (pages  1-12).  Quo- 
tations from  this  translation  are  given  farther  on. 

Volume  V  of  the  Margry  Papers,  published  in  1883,  con- 
tains, in  its  pages  373-586,  the  entire  French  text  of  the  Re- 
lation of  Penicaut. 

VOYAGE  ABOVE  THE  FALLS  OF  ST.  ANTHONY. 

In  refutation  of  a  fictitious  narrative  by  Mathieu  Sagean, 
which  is  published  in.  the  Margry  Papers  (Volume  VI,  pages 
95-162),  Le  Sueur  told  of  a  canoe  voyage  made  by  himself  about 
the  year  1690  or  earlier,  ascending  the  Mississippi  more  than  a 
hundred  leagues  above  the  Falls  of  St.  Anthony.  His  testi- 
mony against  the  falsehoods  of  Sagean  is  given  in  pages  171- 
172  of  the  same  volume.  Alfred  J.  Hill  translates  what  Le 
Sueur  learned  of  the  part  of  this  river  beyond  the  limit  of  his 
journey  as  follows:  "The  Sioux  with  whom  I  went  up  assured 
me  that  there  were  yet  more  than  ten  days  journey  to  ascend. 
It  is  at  least  100  leagues  before  coming  to  the  sources  of  the 
Mississipi.  I  say  sources,  because  there  are  many  of  them 
according  to  the  report  of  the  savages." 

Brower  and  Hill,  commenting  on  this  statement,  concluded 
that  Le  Sueur  voyaged  up  the  Mississippi  to  the  outlet  of  Sandy 
lake,  where  a  village  of  the  Sioux  doubtless  then  existed,  as  it 
has  also  been  during  the  last  century  or  longer  the  site  of  an 
Ojibway  village.  The  estimates  noted,  that  the  distance  traveled 
above  the  Falls  of  St.  Anthony  was  about  a  hundred  French 
leagues,  and  that  an  equal  distance  of  the  river's  course  still  se- 
parated the  voyageurs  from  its  sources,  agree  very  closely  with  the 
accurate  measurements  now  made  by  exact  surveys,  if  Le  Sueur's 
journey  ended  at  Sandy  lake. 

Very  probably  Charleville,  whose  narration  of  a  similar  early 
expedition  of  a  hundred  leagues  on  the  part  of  the  Mississippi 


254  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 

above  these  falls  is  preserved  by  Du  Pratz  in  his  "History  of 
Louisiana,"  was  a  companion  of  Le  Sueur,  so  that  the  two  ac- 
counts relate  to  the  same  canoe  trip.  Charleville  said  that  he 
\vas  accompanied  by  two  Canadian  Frenchmen  and  two  Indians; 
and  it  is  remarkable  that  Charleville,  like  Le  Sueur,  was  a  rela- 
tive of  the  brothers  Iberville  and  Bienville,  who  afterward  were 
governors  of  Louisiana.  As  in  Le  Sueur's  description  of  the 
sources  of  the  great  river,  the  Sioux  to  whom  Charleville  came- 
at  the  end  of  his  journey  told  him  that  these  sources  consisted 
of  many  smaller  rivers. 

TRADING  POST  ON  PRAIRIE  ISLAND. 

The  first  locality  in  Minnesota  inhabited  by  white  men, 
Prairie  island,  also  called  by  former  writers  Bald  island,  in  trans- 
lation of  its  old  French  name,  Isle  Pelee,  became  the  site  of  an 
important  early  trading  post.  Forty  years  after  Groseilliers  and 
Radisson  came  there,  Le  Sueur  established  a  fort,  that  is,  a 
trading  post,  on  this  island,  in  1695,  of  which  La  Harpe,  in  the 
introduction  of  his  narrative  of  Le  Sueur's  mining  expedition  in 
1700,  wrote  as  follows,  according  to  Shea's  translation  (page  90) : 

*  *  *  What  gave  rise  to  this  enterprise  as  far  back  as  the  year 
1695,  was  this.  Mr.  Le  Sueur  by  order  of  the  Count  de  Frontenac,  Gov- 
ernor General  of  Canada,  built  a  fort  on  an  island  in  the  Mississippi,  more 
than  200  leagues  above  the  Illinois,  in  order  to  effect  a  peace  between  the 
Sauteurs  nations  [Ojibways],  who  dwell  on  the  shores  of  a  lake  of 
five  hundred  leagues  circumference  [Lake  Superior],  one  hundred  leagues 
east  of  the  river,  and  the  Scioux,  posted  on  the  Upper  Mississippi. 
The  same  year,  according  to  his  orders,  he  went  down  to  Montreal  in 
Canada  with  a  Sauteur  chief  named  Chingouabe  and  a  Sciou  named 
Cioscate  [Tioscate,  page  107],  who  was  the  first  of  his  nation  who  had 
seen  Canada.  *  *  * 

Penicaut  wrote  of  Prairie  island,  as  translated  by  Hill: 

At  the  end  of  the  lake  [Pepin]  you  come  to  Bald  Island,  so  called 
because  there  are  no  trees  on  it.  It  is  on  this  island  that  the  French 
from  Canada  established  their  fort  and  storehouse  when  they  come  to 
trade  for  furs  and  other  merchandise,  and  they  also  winter  here  bev 
cause  game  is  very  abundant  in  the  prairies  on  both  shores  of  the 


PERROT  AND  LE  SUEUR.  255 

river.  In  the  mouth  of  September  they  bring  their  store  of  meat 
there  procured  by  hunting,  and  after  having  skinned  and  cleaned  it, 
place  it  upon  a  sort  of  raised  scaffold  near  the  cabin,  in  order  that  the 
extreme  cold  which  lasts  from  the  month  of  September  to  the  end  of 
March,  may  hinder  it  from  corrupting  during  the  winter,  which  is  very 
severe  in  that  country.  During  the  whole  winter  they  do  not  go  out 
except  for  water,  when  they  have  to  break  the  ice  every  day,  and  the 
cabin  is  generally  built  on  the  bank,  so  as  not  to  have  to  go  far. 
When  spring  arrives  the  savages  come  to  the  island,  bringing  their 
merchandise,  which  consists  of  all  kinds  of  furs,  as  beaver,  otter,  marten, 
lynx,  and  many  others — the  bear  skins  are  generally  used  to  cover  the 
canoes  of  the  savages  and  Canadians.  There  are  often  savages  who  pil- 
lage the  French  Canadian  traders,  among  others  the  savages  of  a 
village  composed  of  the  five  different  nations,  and  which  have  each  their 
own  name,  that  is,  the  Sioux,  the  people  of  the  big  village,  the  Men- 
tentons,  the  Mencouacantons,  the  Ouyatespony,  and  other  Sioux  of  the 
plains. 

Three  leagues  higher  up,  after  leaving  this  island,  you  meet  on  the 
right  the  river  St.  Croix.  *  *  * 

In  a  careful  examination  of  this  large  island,  during  the 
spring  of  1902,  the  late  Hon.  J.  Y.  Brower,  while  mapping  its 
many  aboriginal  mounds,  found  only  very  scanty  indications,  in 
a  single  place,  about  a  half  mile  south  from  Sturgeon  lake,  on 
the  high  bank  west  of  its  outlet,  of  any  ancient  dwelling  or  in- 
closure,  constructed  by  Europeans,  such  as  Le  Sueur's  fort.  It 
probably  was  merely  a  rude  log  cabin,  inclosed  by  a  palisade,  both 
soon  decaying  and  leaving  scarcely  any  traces  recognizable  after 
two  centuries.  Yet  its  thus  leaving  almost  no  sign  seems  not 
inconsistent  with  the  statements  of  Penicaut,  which  imply  that 
during  several  years,  before  and  after  Le  Sueur's  commission  in 
1695,  Prairie  island  was  an  important  station  of  French  traders. 

From  Charlevoix,  in  the  third  volume  of  his  History  of 
Xew  France,  published  in  1744,  I  translate  the  following  brief 
description  of  this  island : 

On  going  above  the  lake  [Pepin],  one  comes  to  Isle  Pelee,  so  named 
because  it  has  not  a  single  tree,  but  is  a  very  beautiful  prairie.  The 
French  of  Canada  have  often  made  it  the  center  of  their  trade  in 
these  western  districts,  and  many  have  also  wintered  there,  because 
all  this  country  is  excellent  for  hunting. 


256  MINNESOTA  IN  THEEE  CENTURIES. 

Apparently  this  note  was  simply  condensed  from  Penicaut, 
«uid  I  cannot  refer  to  any  evidence  of  the  occupation  of  the 
island  by  white  traders  after  the  year  1700.  It  has  perhaps  been 
continuously  occupied  by  the  Sioux  since  that  date;  for  numerous 
families  of  these  people  still  live  there,  on  land  which  they  culti- 
vate, allotted  to  them  by  the  United  States  government,  about  a 
mile  west  of  the  supposed  site  of  Le  Sueur's  post.  All  the  other 
very  extensive  cultivatable  land  of  the  island  is  owned  by  white 
immigrants. 

LE    SUEUR'S    MINING   EXPEDITION. 

The  narration  of  the  expedition  of  Le  Sueur  in  the  year 
1700  for  mining  on  the  Blue  Earth  river,  published  by  La 
Harpe  and  translated  by  Shea,  tells  of  the  ascent  of  the  Missis- 
sippi and  Minnesota  rivers,  the  establishment  of  Fort  L'Huillier 
on  the  Blue  Earth  a  few  miles  above  its  mouth,  the  first  mining 
of  the  blue  and  green  earth  supposed  to  be  an  ore  of  copper,  and 
dealings  with  the  surrounding  Sioux,  lowas,  and  other  Indian, 
tribes,  until  the  13th  of  December.  Penicaut's  narration  omits 
many  details,  but  gives  a  concise  account  of  the  entire  expedition, 
including  the  return  of  Le  Sueur  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  and 
also  the  return  of  the  garrison  left  by  him  at  his  fort. 

From  the  French  colonial  settlement  at  Biloxi,  Le  Sueur 
doubtless  came  into  the  Mississippi  by  the  way  of  lakes  Borgne, 
Pontchartrain,  and  Maurepas,  the  Amite  river,  and  the  Bayou- 
Manchac,  entering  the  great  river  more  than  two  hundred  miles 
above  its  mouths.  During  the  summer  and  early  autumn  of 
1700  he  voyaged  up  the  Mississippi,  reaching  the  mouth  of  the 
Missouri  on  July  13th,  and  that  of  the  Wisconsin  river  on  the 
first  day  of  September. 

The  following  quotation  from  Shea's  translation  gives  a 
history  of  about  three  months,  comprising  the  last  part  of  Le 
Sueur's  voyage,  the  construction  of  the  winter  camp  or  fort,  the 
beginning  of  mining,  and  the  efforts  of  Le  Sueur  to  dissuade  the 
Indians  from  intertribal  warfare  and  to  secure  their  friendship 
and  alliance  with  the  French  in  fur  trading. 


PEEEOT  AND  LE  SUEUR,  257 

On  the  16th  [of  September]  he  left  on  the  east  of  the  Mississippi 
a  great  river  called  St.  Croix,  because  a  Frenchman  of  that  name  was 
wrecked  at  its  mouth.  *  *  * 

From  the  16th  to  the  19th  he  advanced  thirteen  leagues  and  three 
quarters.  After  having  made  from  the  Tamarois  [six  leagues  below  the 
mouth  of  the  Missouri]  two  hundred  and  seven  leagues  and  a  half,  he 
left  the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi  at  this  point  to  enter  St.  Peter's 
River  [the  Minnesota],  on  the  west  of  the  Mississippi,  on  which  he 
made  till  the  1st  of  October  forty-four  leagues  and  a  quarter.  After 
which  he  entered  Blue  River  [the  Blue  Earth],  so  called  by  reason  of 
the  mines  of  blue  earth  found  at  its  mouth.  He  made  his  settlement 
at  44  deg.  13  m.  N. 

At  this  spot  he  met  nine  Scioux,  who  told  him  that  this  river  was 
the  country  of  the  Scioux  of  the  West,  of  the  Ayavois  [lowas]  and 
the  Otoctatas  [Otoes]  a  little  further;  that  it  was  not  their  custom  to 
hunt  on  the  grounds  of  others  without  being  invited  by  those  to  whom 
they  belonged;  that  when  they  should  wish  to  come  to  the  fort  to 
get  supplies,  they  would  be  exposed  to  be  cut  off  by  their  enemies 
coming  up  or  going  these  rivers,  which  are  narrow;  and  that  if  he 
wished  to  take  pity  on  them,  he  must  settle  on  the  Mississippi  in  the 
neighborhood  of  the  mouth  of  St.  Peter's  river,  where  the  Ayavois,  the 
Otoctatas,  and  the  Scioux  could  come  as  well  as  they.  Having  made 
this  speech,  they  began,  according  to  their  custom,  to  weep  over  Mr. 
Le  Sueur's  head,  saying,  Oueachissou  ouaepanimanabo ;  which  means, 
Take  pity  on  us. 

Mr.  Le  Sueur  had  foreseen  that  his  establishment  on  the  Blue 
river  would  not  be  relished  by  the  Scioux  of  the  East,  who  are,  so  to 
speak,  the  masters  of  the  other  Scioux  and  of  the  nations  just  named, 
because  they  are  first  with  whom  we  traded,  which  has  given  them  a 
good  supply  of  guns.  As  he  had  not  undertaken  the  enterprise  in  the 
sole  view  of  the  beaver  trade,  but  to  learn  thoroughly  the  quality  of 
the  different  mines  which  he  had  formerly  discovered,  he  told  them 
that  he  was  sorry  he  had  not  known  their  ideas  sooner;  that  it  was 
clearly  just,  as  he  had  come  expressly  for  them,  for  him  to  settle  on 
their  land;  but  the  season  was  too  far  spent  to  retrace  his  steps.  He 
then  made  them  a  present  of  powder,  balls,  knives,  and  a  fathom  of 
tobacco,  to  invite  to  come  as  soon  as  possible  to  the  fort  that  he  was 
going  to  erect;  that  there,  when  they  were  all  assembled,  he  would 
tell  them  the  intentions  of  the  king,  their  master  and  his. 

The  Scioux  of  the  West  have,  according  to  the  reports  of  those  of 
the  East,  more  than  a  thousand  cabins.  They  do  not  use  canoes,  cul- 
tivate the  earth,  or  gather  wild  oats  [wild  rice];  they  generally  keep  to 
the  prairies  between  the  Upper  Mississippi  and  the  River  of  the 
Missouris,  and  live  solely  by  hunting.  1 

I.  15 


258  MINNESOTA  IN  THEEE  CENTURIES. 

On  the  3d  of  the  same  month  [October]  he  received  at  the  fort 
several  Scioux,  among  whom  was  Ouacantapai,  chief  of  the  village. 
Soon  after  two  Canadians  who  had  gone  hunting  arrived;  they  had  been 
robbed  by  the  Scioux  of  the  East,  who  had  taken  away  their  guns 
in  revenge  for  Mr.  Le  Sueur's  settling  on  Blue  river.  On  the  14th  the 
fort  was  finished;  the  name  of  Fort  L'huiller  was  conferred  upon  IF. 

On  the  22d  two  Canadians  were  sent  out  to  invite  the  Ayavois  and 
the  Otoctatas  to  come  and  make  a  village  near  the  fort,  because  these 
Indians  are  laborious  and  accustomed  to  cultivate  the  ground,  and  he 
hoped  to  obtain  provisions  from  them  and  make  them  work  the 
mines.  *  *  * 

*  *  *  On  the  26th  Mr.  Le  Sueur  proceeded  to  the  mine,  with 
three  canoes  which  he  loaded  with  blue  and  green  earth.  It  is  drawn 
from  mountains  [the  river  bluffs]  near  which  are  the  very  abundant 
copper  mines,  of  which  Mr.  L'Huillier,  one  of  the  king's  farmers  general, 
made  an  assay  at  Paris,  in  1696.  *  *  * 

On  the  9th  of  November  eight  Mantantons  Scioux  presented  them- 
selves at  the  fort,  having  been  sent  by  the  chiefs  of  their  village  to  say 
that  the  Mendeouacantons  were  still  at  their  lake  [Mille  Lacs]  on  the 
lands  east  of  the  Mississipi,  and  that  they  could  not  come  for  a  long 
time.  *  *  * 

On  the  26th  the  Mantantons  and  Oujalespoitons  arrived  at  the  fort. 
After  pitching  their  cabin  in  the  wood,  Ouacantapai  came  to  beg  Mr. 
Lt  Sueur  to  come  to  him.  He  there  found  sixteen  men  with  several 
women  and  children,  who  had  their  faces  daubed  with  black.  In  the 
middle  of  this  cabin  were  several  buffalo  skins  that  served  as  a  carpet. 
They  made  signs  to  him  to  sit  down,  and  at  the  same  time  all  these 
persons  began  to  weep  for  half  a  quarter  of  an  hour;  then  the  chief 
offered  him  wild  rice  to  eat,  and  according  to  their  custom  put  the 
first  three  spoonfuls  in  his  mouth,  after  which  he  told  him  that  all 
those  whom  he  saw  present  were  like  himself  the  relatives  of  Tioscate 
(this  was  the  name  of  the  Sciou  whom  Mr.  Le  Sueur  took  to  Canada 
n  1695.  and  who  died  there  in  1696).  *  *  * 

The  next  day  he  assembled  in  the  fort  the  most  eminent  of  both 
villages,  and  as  it  is  impossible  to  reduce  the  Scioux  to  prevent  thoir 
going  to  war,  except  by  inducing  them  to  cultivate  the  ground,  he  told 
them  that  if  they  wished  to  render  themselves  worthy  of  the  king's 
protection,  they  must  abandon  their  errant  life  and  come  and  form  a 
village  around  his  settlement,  where  they  would  be  sheltered  from  the 
attacks  of  their  enemies;  that  to  facilitate  the  means  of  leading  a 
happy  life  there,  and  save  them  from  the  pangs  of  hunger,  he  would 
give  them  all  the  corn  necessary  to  plant  a  good  deal  of  ground;  that 
the  king,  their  chief  and  his,  when  sending  him  had  forbidden  him  to 
trade  in  beaver  skins,  knowing  that  this  hunt  obliged  them  to  scatter, 


PERROT  AND  LE  SUEUR.  259 

and  exposed  them  to  be  killed  by  their  enemies;  that  in  consequence 
he  had  come  to  settle  on  Blue  river,  the  neighborhood  of  which,  as 
they  had  several  times  assured  him,  was  full  of  all  kinds  of  beasts, 
for  the  skins  of  which  they  would  supply  all  their  wants;  that  they 
should  reflect  that  they  could  not  do  without  the  goods  of  the  French, 
and  that  the  only  means  not  to  be  deprived  of  them  was  not  to  make 
•war  on  nations  allied  to  us;  and  as  it  is  the  Indian  custom  to  ac- 
company their  words  with  a  present  proportioned  to  the  ali'air  treated  of, 
he  gave  them  fifty  pounds  of  powder  and  as  many  of  balls,  six  guns, 
ten  hatchets,  twelve  fathoms  of  tobacco,  and  a  steel  calumet. 

On  the  1st  of  December  the  Mantantons  invited  Mr.  Le  Sueur  to 
a  great  banquet;  four  of  their  cabins  had  been  thrown  into  one,  in 
which  there  were  a  hundred  men  seated  around,  each  with  his  platter 
before  him.  After  the  repast  Ouacantapai,  their  chief,  made  them  all 
smoke  successively  the  steel  calumet  which  had  been  presented  to  them; 
then  he  made  a  present  to  Mr.  Le  Sueur  of  a  slave  and  a  sack  of  wild 
rice,  and  pointing  to  his  people  said:  "Behold  the  remnants  of  that 
great  village  which  thou  didst  formerly  behold  so  numerous;  all  the 
others  have  been  slain  in  war,  and  the  few  men  that  thou  seest  in  this 
cabin  accept  the  present  that  thou  makest  them,  and  are  resolved  to 
obey  that  great  chief  of  all  the  nations,  of  whom  thou  hast  spoken 
to  us;  thou  must  therefore  no  longer  regard  us  as  Scioux,  but  as 
Frenchmen,  and  instead  of  saying  that  the  Scioux  are  wretches  who 
have  no  sense,  and  fit  only  to  plunder  and  rob  the  French,  thou  wilt 
say:  My  brothers  are  unhappy  men  who  have  no  sense;  we  must  try 
and  get  them  some;  they  rob  us,  but  to  prevent  them  I  will  take  care 
that  they  do  not  lack  iron,  that  is  to  say  all  kinds  of  goods.  If  thon 
dost  this.  I  assure  thee  that  in  a  short  time  the  Mantantons  will  be- 
come French,  and  will  no  longer  have  the  vi'ces  with  which  thou  re- 
proachest  them."  Having  finished  this  harangue,  he  covered  his  head 
with  his  robe,  the  others  imitated  him;  they  wept  for  their  comrades 
slain  in  war,  and  chanted  a  farewell  to  their  country  in  so  mournful  a 
tone  that  one  could  scarcely  help  sharing  their  grief.  Then  Ouacantapai 
made  them  smoke  again,  and  distributed  among  them  the  presents 
that  had  been  given  to  them,  and  said  that  he  was  going  to  the 
Mendeouacantons  to  inform  them  of  the  resolution  and  to  invite  them 
to  do  the  same. 

On  the  12th  three  Mendeouacanton  chiefs  and  a  number  of  In- 
dians of  the  same  village  arrived  at  the  fort,  and  the  next  day  made 
a  kind  of  satisfaction  for  the  plunder  they  had  committed  on  the 
French.  They  brought  400  pounds  of  beaver  skins,  and  promised  that 
next  summer,  after  building  canoes  and  gathering  in  their  harvest  of 
wild  rice,  they  would  come  to  settle  near  the  French.  The  same  day 
they  returned  to  their  village  east  of  the  Mississipi. 


260  MINNESOTA  IX  THREE  CENTURIES. 

Le  Sueur's  narration  ends  thus  abruptly,  excepting  an  ap- 
pended list  of  seven  tribes  of  the  eastern  Sioux  and  nine  tribes 
of  the  western  Sioux,  with  the  meanings  of  their  names.  It 
\vas  evidently  derived  partly  from  memoranda  or  a  journal  kept 
by  Le  Sueur  during  the  expedition,  and  probably  also  from  his 
telling  it  according  to  his  memory,  being  written  out  by  some 
other  person,  perhaps  more  accustomed  to  literary  expression. 
This  appears  to  have  been  done  in  the  early  part  of  1702,  soon 
after  Le  Sueur's  return  to  Biloxi  or  Mobile  and  before  his  sail- 
ing to  France.  Such  record  of  his  expedition  would  be  required 
by  Bienville,  then  governor  of  this  new  province  of  Louisiana, 
for  preservation  in  the  colonial  archives. 

The  continuation  of  the  record,  which  probably  included  a 
similar  report  of  all  the  time  spent  by  Le  Sueur  in  Minnesota 
during  this  expedition  and  of  his  return,  had  perhaps  been  lost, 
as  it  appears  not  to  have  been  seen  by  La  Harpe,  who  was  in 
Louisiana  from  1718  to  1723.  Later  he  wrote  in  France  the  His- 
torical Journal,  containing  this  part  of  the  report  of  Le  Sueur's 
expedition.  La  Harpe's  work  was  published  in  1831,  as  before 
noted,  after  remaining  in  manuscript  about  a  hundred  years. 

In  the  Relation  of  Penicaut  we  have  his  very  interesting 
history  of  this  expedition,  which  in  some  unimportant  particulars 
shows  discrepancies  with  the  narration  of  Le  Sueur,  although  the 
two  accounts  have  in  general  a  close  agreement.  As  translated 
by  Hill,  Penicaut  wrote: 

*  *     *    I  was   ordered  by  M.  de  Sauvolle    [the  governor   of  Louis- 
iana, 1699-1701]   to  go  on  this  expedition  which  M.  le  Sueur  was  going 
to   make,   because   of   my   being  a   carpenter   by   trade,   in   the   service   of 
His    Majesty,    and    necessary    to    make    and    repair    shallops.    *     *     * 
After   he   had   got   together  all   the   necessary   provisions,  and   tools    and 
had  taken  leave  of  M.   de   Sauvolle,  he  set  out  in   the   month   of  April 
of    this    year    [1700]     with    a    single    shallop,    in    which    we    were    but 
twenty-five    persons.     *     *     * 

*  *    *    Above  the  mouth  of  the  Wisconsin,  and  ten  leagues  higher 
up  on  the  same  side,  begins  a  great  prairie  extending  for  sixty  leagues 
along   the    bank    of   the   Mississippi   on    the   right — this    prairie   is   called 
Winged    Prairie.     The     further     ends     of    these     prairies     reach     to     the 
mountains    [bluffs   of   the   Mississippi   valley],   making   a   very   fine   pros- 
pect.    Opposite    to    the    Winged    Prairie    on    the    left    there    is    another 


PERKOT  AND  LE  SUEUK.  261 

prairie  facing  it  called  Paquitanet,  which  is  not  so  long  by  a  great 
deal.  Twenty  leagues  above  these  prairies  is  found  lake  Good  Help 
[Lake  Pepin],  which  is  seven  leagues  long  and  one  across,  and  through 
which  the  Mississippi  passes.  To  the  right  and  left  of  its  shores  there 
are  also  prairies.  In  that  on  the  right,  on  the  bank  of  the  lake,  there 
is  a  fort  [St.  Antoine]  which  was  built  by  Nicholas  Perrot,  whose 
name  it  yet  bears.  [The  description  of  Prairie  island  follows,  as  quoted 
on  a  previous  page  of  this  chapter.] 

Ten  leagues  further  [in  the  voyage  up  the  Mississippi 
from  the  mouth  of  the  St.  Croix  river]  you  come  to  the  Falls  of  St. 
Anthony,  which  can  be  heard  two  leagues  off.  It  is  the  entire  Missis- 
sippi falling  suddenly  from  a  height  of  sixty  feet,  making  a  noise  like 
that  of  thunder  rolling  in  the  air.  Here  one  has  to  carry  the  canoes 
and  shallops,  and  raise  them  by  hand  to  the  upper  level  in  order  to 
continue  the  route  by  the  river.  This  we  did  not  do,  but  having  for 
some  time  looked  at  this  fall  of  the  whole  Mississippi,  we  returned 
two  leagues  below  the  Falls  of  St.  Anthony  to  a  river  coming  in  on 
the  left  of  the  Mississippi,  which  is  called  the  river  St.  Peter.  We 
took  our  route  by  its  mouth  and  ascended  it  forty  leagues,  where  we 
found  another  river  on  the  left  [Blue  Earth  river]  falling  into  the 
St.  Peter,  which  we  entered.  We  called  this  Green  River,  because  it 
is  of  that  color  by  reason  of  a  green  earth,  which,  loosening  itself 
from  the  copper  mines,  becomes  dissolved  in  it  and  makes  it  green.  A 
league  up  this  river  we  found  a  point  of  land  a  quarter  of  a  league 
distant  from  the  woods,  and  it  was  upon  this  point  that  M.  le  Sueur 
resolved  to  built  his  fort,  because  he  could  not  go  any  higher  on  ac- 
count of  the  ice,  it  being  the  last  day  of  September,  when  winter, 
which  is  very  severe  in  that  country,  has  already  begun.  Half  of  our 
people  went  hunting,  whilst  the  others  worked  on  the  fort.  We  killed 
four  hundred  buffaloes,  which  were  our  provisions  for  the  winter,  and 
which  we  placed  upon  scaffolds  in  our  fort,  after  having  skinned  and 
cleaned  and  then  quartered  them.  We  also  made  cabins  in  the  fort, 
and  a  magazine  to  keep  our  goods.  After  having  drawn  up  our  shallop 
within  the  inclosure  of  the  fort,  we  spent  the  winter  in  our  cabins. 

When  we  were  working  on  our  fort,  in  the  beginning,  seven  French 
traders  of  Canada  took  refuge  there.  They  had  been  pillaged  and  strip- 
ped naked  by  the  Sioux,  a  wandering  nation  living  only  by  hunting 
and  rapine.  Amongst  these  seven  persons  there  was  a  Canadian  gentle- 
man of  M.  le  Sueur's  acquaintance,  whom  he  recognized  at  once  and 
gave  him  some  clothes,  as  he  did  also  to  all  the  rest,  and  whatever 
else  was  necessary  for  them.  They  remained  with  us  during  the  entire 
winter  at  our  fort,  where  we  had  not  food  enough  for  all,  except  the 
flesh  of  our  buffaloes,  which  we  had  not  even  salt  to  eat  with.  We 
had  a  good  deal  of  trouble  the  first  two  weeks  in  getting  used  to  it, 
having  diarrhoea  and  fever,  and  being  so  tired  of  it  that  we  hated  the 


262  MINNESOTA  IX  THREE  CENTURIES. 

very  smell.  But  little  by  little  our  bodies  got  adapted  to  it,  so  well 
that  at  the  end  of  six  weeks  there  was  not  one  of  us  that  could  not 
eat  six  pounds  of  meat  a  day  and  drink  four  bowls  of  the  broth.  As 
soon  as  we  were  accustomed  to  this  kind  of  living  it  made  us  very  fat, 
;<:id  there  was  then  no  more  of  sickness  amongst  us. 

When  spring  arrived  we  went  to  work  on  the  copper  mine.  This 
was  in  the  beginning  of  April  of  this  year  [1701].  We  took  with  us 
twelve  laborers  and  four  hunters.  This  mine  was  situated  about  three 
quarters  of  a  league  from  our  post.  We  took  from  the  mine  in  twenty  - 
two  days  more  than  thirty  thousand  pounds  weight  of  ore,  of  which 
we  only  selected  four  thousand  pounds  of  the  finest,  which  M.  le  Sueur, 
who  was  a  very  good  judge  of  it,  had  carried  to  the  fort,  and  which 
has  since  been  sent  to  France,  though  I  have  not  learned  the  result. 

This  mine  is  situated  at  the  beginning  of  a  very  long  mountain 
[the  valley  bluff]  which  is  upon  the  bank  of  the  river,  so  that  boats 
can  go  right  to  the  mouth  of  the  mine  itself.  At  this  place  is  the 
green  earth,  which  is  a  foot  and  a  half  in  thickness,  and  above  it  is  a 
layer  of  earth  as  firm  and  hard  as  stone,  and  black  and  burnt  like 
coal  by  the  exhalation  from  the  mine.  The  copper  is  scratched  out 
with  a  knife.  There  are  no  trees  upon  this  mountain.  If  this  mine 
is  good  it  will  make  a  great  trade,  because  the  mountain  contains  more 
than  ten  leagues  running  of  the  same  ground.  It  appears,  according  to 
our  observations,  that  in  the  very  finest  weather  there  is  continually  a 
fog  upon  this  mountain. 

After  twenty -two  days'  work  we  returned  to  our  fort,  where  the 
Sioux,  who  belong  to  the  nation  of  savages  who  pillaged  the  Canadians 
that  came  there,  brought  us  merchandises  of  furs.  They  had  more  than 
four  hundred  beaver  robes,  each  robe  being  made  of  nine  skins  sewed 
together.  M.  le  Sueur  purchased  these  and  many  other  skins  which 
he  bargained  for  in  the  week  he  traded  with  the  savages.  He  made 
them  all  come  and  camp  near  the  fort,  which  they  consented  to  very 
unwillingly;  for  this  nation,  which  is  very  numerous,  is  always  wan- 
dering, living  only  by  hunting,  and  when  they  have  stayed  a  few  days 
in  one  place  they  have  to  go  off  more  than  ten  leagues  from  it  t'or 
game  for  their  support.  *  *  * 

*  *  *  We  sell  in  return  wares  which  come  very  dear  to  the 
buyers,  especially  tobacco  from  Brazil  in  the  proportion  of  a  hundred 
crowns  the  pound;  two  little  horn -handled  knives  or  four  leaden  bullets 
are  equal  to  ten  crowns  in  exchange  for  their  merchandises  of  skins, 
and  so  with  the  rest. 

In  the  beginning  of  May  we  launched  our  shallop  in  the  water  and 
loaded  it  with  this  green  earth  that  had  been  taken  out  of  the  mines 
and  with  the  furs  we  had  traded  for,  of  which  we  brought  away  three 
canoes  full.  M.  le  Sueur,  before  going,  held  council  with  M.  d'Eraque, 
tin-  Canadian  jrontleman,  and  the  three  great  chiefs  of  the  Sioux,  throe 


PERROT  AND  LE  SUEUR.  263 

brothers,  and  told  them  that  as  he  had  to  return  to  the  sea  he  desired 
them,  to  live  in  peace  with  M.  d'Eraque,  whom  he  left  in  command  of 
Fort  L'Huillier,  with  twelve  Frenchmen.  M.  le  Sueur  made  a  consider- 
able present  to  the  three  brothers,  chiefs  of  the  savages,  desiring  them 
never  to  abandon  the  French.  After  this  we,  the  twelve  men  whom  he 
had  chosen  to  go  down  to  the  sea  with  him,  embarked.  In  setting  out 
M.  le  Sueur  promised  to  M.  d'Eraque  and  the  twelve  Frenchmen  who 
remained  with  him  to  guard  the  fort,  to  send  up  munitions  of  war 
from  the  Illinois  country  as  soon  as  he  should  arrive  there;  which  he 
did,  for  on  getting  there  he  sent  off  to  him  a  canoe  loaded  with  two 
thousand  pounds  of  lead  and  powder,  with  three  of  our  people  in  charge 
of  it.  *  *  * 

In  this  same  time  [the  spring  of  1702]  M.  d'Iberville  had  sent  a 
boat,  laden  with  munitions  of  war  and  provisions,  to  M.  de  St.  Denis, 
commanding  the  fort  on  the  bank  of  the  Mississippi  [about  thirty  miles 
below  the  site  of  New  Orleans].  They  found  there  M.  d'Eraque,  who 
had  arrived  with  the  twelve  Frenchmen  who  remained  with  him  at 
fort  L'Huillier.  He  came  shortly  after  in  the  same  boat  to  Mobile, 
where  M.  d'Iberville  was,  whom  he  saluted,  and  reported  to  him  that 
M.  le  Sueur,  having  left  him  at  the  fort  L'Huillier,  had  promised  him, 
in  parting,  to  send  him  from  the  Illinois  country  ammunition  and  pro- 
visions, and  that  having  looked  for  them  a  long  time  without  hearing 
any  news  of  them,  he  had  been  attacked  by  the  nations  of  the 
Maskoutins  and  Foxes,  who  had  killed  three  of  our  Frenchmen  whilst 
they  were  working  in  the  woods  but  two  gun  shots  beyond  the  fort; 
that  when  the  savages  had  retreated  he  had  been  obliged,  after  having 
concealed  the  merchandises  he  had  remaining,  and  seeing  that  he  was  out 
of  powder  and  lead,  to  abandon  the  fort  and  descend  with  his  people 
to  the  sea;  that  at  the  Wisconsin  he  had  met  M.  Juchereau,  criminal 
judge  of  Montreal,  in  Canada,  with  thirty-five  men,  whom  he  had 
brought  with  him  to  establish  a  tannery  at  the  Wabash;  that  he  had 
descended  with  him  to  the  Illinois  where  he  had  found  the  canoe  M. 
de  Bienville  sent  him;  that  he  had  arrived  in  this  canoe  at  the  post  of 
M.  de  St.  Denis  the  night  before  the  boat  arrived  there;  and  that, 
having  learned  from  M.  de  St.  Denis  of  the  arrival  of  M.  d'Iberville,  he 
had  taken  advantage  of  that  opportunity  to  pay  his  respects  to  him  and 
offer  him  at  the  same  time  his  services. 

SITES  OF  FORT  L'HUILLIER  AND  LE  SUEUR'S  MINE. 

According  with  the  Relation  of  Penicaut,  who  noted  that 
the  distance  of  Fort  L'Huillier  from  the  mouth  of  the  Blue 
Earth  river  was  one  league,  its  site  has  been  identified  by  Mr. 


264  MINNESOTA  IX  THEEE  CENTURIES. 

Thomas  Hughes,  of  Mankato,  as  a  natural  mound  or  plateau 
which  rises  steeply  from  the  southeastern  bank  of  the  Blue  Earth 
at  the  mouth  of  the  Le  Sueur  river.  In  a  paper  read  before  the 
Minnesota  Historical  Society  on  November  14,  1904,  Mr.  Hughes 
gives  the  following  description  of  this  spot  and  of  the  site  of  the 
mine,  which  is  nearly  two  miles  (called  by  Penicaut  about  three 
quarters  of  a  league)  farther  up  the  Blue  Earth  river,  in  its 
southeastern  bluff. 

As  the  fort  consisted  of  three  or  four  log  cabins  inclosed  by  a  log 
palisade,  the  timber  used  in  its  construction  must  have  been  conven- 
iently obtained,  since  Le  Sueur's  party  had  no  means  to  transport  it 
except  by  hand.  It  is  also  evident  that  in  selecting  a  site  for  a  fort  it 
would  be  natural  to  fix  upon  the  strongest  and  most  commanding  posi- 
tion in  the  vicinity  where  good  water  and  building  material  were  handy. 

Right  at  the  confluence  of  the  Le  Sueur  and  Blue  Earth  rivers 
stands  a  large  natural  mound,  about  sixty  to  seventy-five  feet  high, 
with  a  few  acres  of  fairly  level  land  on  its  top.  It  is  on  the  right  or 
east  bank  of  the  Blue  Earth  river,  and  just  below  the  mouth  of  the 
Le  Sueur.  *  *  * 

The  top  of  the  mound  is  now  a  cultivated  field;  but  originally  it 
had  a  grove  of  two  or  three  acres  of  heavy  timber  upon  it.  The  highest 
point  is  immediately  opposite  the  junction  of  the  two  rivers,  where  this 
grove  once  stood.  It  is  a  most  commanding  spot  and  affords  a  magni- 
ficent view  of  the  Blue  Earth  and  Le  Sueur  valleys. 

Some  of  the  early  settlers  remember  noticing,  before  the  land  was 
grubbed  and  cultivated,  indications  of  an  old  excavation  just  at  this 
point.  The  place  by  actual  measurement  is  distant  from  the  mouth 
of  the  Blue  Earth  river  about  a  French  league,  or  somewhat  less  than 
three  miles;  and  the  bed  of  blue  or  green  clay,  which  the  Indians  used 
for  pigment,  and  which  Le  Sueur  supposed  to  contain  copper,  is  found 
three  quarters  of  a  league  farther  up  the  Blue  Earth,  and  nowhere  else. 

On  the  very  top  of  the  mound,  and  within  a  few  feet  of  where 
the  fort  must  have  stood,  a  fine  large  spring  of  running  water  gushes 
forth,  which  in  pioneer  days  never  failed  in  summer  or  winter. 

In  fact,  the  top  of  this  mound  tallies  exactly  with  all  the  data  we 
possess  regarding  the  fort's  location,  while  no  other  spot  tallies  with 
any  of  them. 

Evidence  of  an  Indian  battle,  or  more  probably  an  attack 
from  an  ambuscade,  was  found  in  June,  1907,  in  excavating  for 
gravel  about  a  mile  and  three  quarters  southwest  from  the 
site  of  Fort  L'Huillier,  where  seventeen  headless  skeletons  were 


PEREOT  AND  LE  SUEUR.  265 

exhumed  from  separate  graves  close  together.  The  bodies  had 
been  laid  at  full  length  on  their  backs,  in  the  manner  of  burial 
by  white  men,  quite  unlike  the  customs  of  the  Indian  tribes  of 
this  region.  The  most  proLable  explanation  of  this  discovery  is 
given  by  Mr.  Hughes,  who  thinks  these  to  be  skeletons  of  Sioux 
killed  in  the  year  1701  by  a  war  party  of  the  Maskoutin  and 
Fox  Indians,  whom  Penicaut  mentions  as  attacking  the  French- 
men left  by  Le  Sueur  at  Fort  L'Huillier.  The  heads  of  the 
slain  having  been  carried  away  as  trophies  of  war,  the  bodies 
are  thought  to  have  been  interred  by  the  French,  who  were 
friends  of  the  Sioux,  and  who  soon  after  this  attack  abandoned 
the  fort  and  descended  the  Minnesota  and  Mississippi  rivers. 


Chapter  IX. 

VERENDRYE  AND  HIS  SONS. 
MAPS    BY    HENNEPIN,    FKANQUELIN,    AND    DELISLE. 

THE  earliest  published  map  drafted  under  the  direction  of 
an  explorer  of  Minnesota  is  in  Hennepin's  "Description 
of  Louisiana/'  issued  at  Paris  in  1683,  which  now  is  an 
exceedingly  rare  book.  On  this  map,  reproduced  by  Shea  in 
his  translation  of  Hennepin's  work,  and  by  Prof.  N.  H.  Winchell 
in  Volume  I  of  the  Final  Keport  on  the  Geological  and  Na- 
tural History  Survey  of  Minnesota,  we  recognize  the  Mississippi 
from  its  source  in  northern  Minnesota  to  a  point  below  the 
mouth  of  the  Illinois  river,  while  farther  south  to  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico  it  is  dotted.  Both  these  streams  bear  their  ancient 
French  names,  which  soon  passed  out  of  use.  The  St.  Croix 
river,  Bum  river,  and  Crow  river,  are  also  delineated ;  or  per- 
haps the  last  is  intended  for  the  Minnesota  river,  although  on 
the  map  it  joins  the  Mississippi  above  the  Falls  of  St.  Anthony. 
Lake  Pepin  is  shown,  and  has  its  earliest  French  name,  meaning, 
in  English,  the  Lake  of  Tears.  Mille  Lacs  appears  as  Lac 
Buade,  for  the  family  name  of  Count  Frontenac.  This  map  is 
on  a  very  small  scale,  as  it  includes  all  that  was  known  of  North 
America,  from  the  Pacific  ocean  (called  the  South  sea)  to  the 
Atlantic  (called  the  Sea  of  Canada)  ;  and  the  map,  with  its 
ornately  engraved  title,  even  extends  east  to  the  shores  of  Europe 
and  Africa. 

Five  years  later,  in  1688,  the  Canadian  French  geographer, 
Franquelin,  making  use  of  information  from  Joliet  and  Mar- 
quette,  La  Salle,  Hennepin,  Du  Luth,  and  others,  drafted  for 

267 


268  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 

Louis  XIV  a  more  detailed  map  of  North  America.  The  part 
of  this  map  which  comprises  lakes  Michigan  and  Superior,  lake 
Xipigon,  lakes  Winnipeg  and  Manitoba  (called  respectively  the 
lakes  of  the  Crees  and  Assiniboines,  with  their  ancient  spelling), 
Lac  de  Buade  (Mille  Lacs),  and  the  upper  Mississippi  region, 
was  published  by  Dr.  Neill  in  his  History  of  Minnesota  (fourth 
edition,  1882)  and  by  Professor  Winchell  in  the  volume  before 
cited.  The  upper  Great  Lakes  of  the  St.  Lawrence  are  well 
outlined,  with  their  tributary  streams.  The  Mississippi,  Illinois, 
Ohio,  Missouri,  and  Des  Moines  rivers,  take  their  present  names, 
but,  as  might  be  expected,  with  ancient  spelling  which  has  been 
since  somewhat  changed.  No  trading  post  or  mission  is  shown 
within  the  area  of  Minnesota;  although  Hennepin  had  falsely 
marked  Recollect  missions  on  his  map,  as  founded  northwest  of 
Mille  Lacs.  The  rivers  and  lakes  on  the  northern  boundary  of 
Minnesota,  west  of  Lake  Superior,  were  unknown. 

William  Delisle,  the  royal  geographer  of  France,  in  1703, 
published  a  map  of  Louisiana,  reaching  north  to  Minnesota,  and 
a  map  of  Canada  or  New  France,  which  extended  to  many  small 
lakes  and  streams  called  "Sources  of  the  Mississippi  according  to 
the  report  of  the  savages."  Le  Sueur  had  given  his  aid  in  the 
preparation  of  both  these  maps.  Copies  of  the  parts  of  each  in 
which  we  are  especially  interested  are  given  in  Neill's  History 
of  Minnesota.  For  the  first  time  the  river  from  which  our  state 
takes  its  name  is  somewhat  accurately  drawn,  and  is  called  the 
River  St.  Peter  or  Minnesota,  with  Le  Sueur's  fancied  mines  of 
copper  and  of  coal  near  it.  The  geographic  "report  of  the 
savages"  refers  to  what  the  Dakotas  at  or  near  Sandy  lake  had 
told  to  both  Le  Sueur  and  Charleville,  who  probably,  as  before 
noted,  were  companions  in  a  canoe  trip  far  up  the  Mississippi, 
of  which  they  gave  to  history,  quite  independently,  almost  parallel 
accounts. 

SKETCH  MAP  DRAWN  FOR  VERENDRYE  BY 
OCHAGACH. 

The  next  considerable  increase  of  cartography  of  the  area 
that  became  Minnesota  is,  according  to  its  French  title,  when 


SECTION  OF  CHART  BY  WILLIAM  DE  L'ISLE. 


VERENDRYE  AND  HIS  SONS.  269 

anglicized,  a  "map  drawn  by  the  savage,  Ochagach,  and  others, 
which  has  led  to  the  discoveries  of  the  French  officers  represented 
in  the  adjoining  map,  that  is,  the  one  drafted  by  Buache  in 
1754,  showing  the  country  westward  from  the  Great  Lakes,  with 
the  sketch  by  Ochagach  inserted  at  its  margin.  Bellin,  the 
learned  French  geographer,  in  1755,  stated  that  this  sketch  was 
the  earliest  draft  in  the  archives  of  the  French  Department  of 
the  Colonies,  showing  the  region  west  of  Lake  Superior  with  any 
detail. 

In  the  year  1728,  when  Pierre  Gautier  Varennes,  more 
commonly  known  by  his  title  as  the  Sieur  de  la  Verendrye,  was 
stationed  as  an  agent  of  the  fur  trade  at  Lake  Nipigon,  north 
of  Lake  Superior,  this  rudely  sketched  map  was  drawn  for  him 
by  an  intelligent  Assiniboine  Indian,  named  Ochagach,  with  aid 
by  other  Indians,  tracing  the  canoe  route  of  streams,  lakes,  and 
portages,  from  Lake  Superior  along  the  north  boundary  of  the 
present  state  of  Minnesota  to  the  Lake  of  the  Woods,  and  thence 
northwestward  to  Lake  Winnipeg  and  the  Saskatchewan  river. 
After  the  insertion  of  some  names  by  the  French  as  derived  from 
the  Indians,  this  aboriginal  delineation  was  shown  by  Verendrye 
to  Beauharnois,  the  governor  of  Canada,  and  about  the  year  1730 
it  was  sent  to  France.  A  tracing  of  it  was  published  by  Neill, 
in  1882,  in  the  fourth  edition  of  his  History  of  Minnesota;  an'd 
two  years  later  both  this  sketch  and  the  map  drafted  by  Buache. 
before  noted,  were  published  by  Winchell  in  the  first  volume  of 
his  Final  Report  as  the  state  geologist. 

The  series  of  many  small  lakes  on  our  northern  boundary  is 
conspicuous  on  the  sketch  drawn  by  Ochagach,  and  the  thirteenth 
lake  outlined,  larger  than  any  of  the  twelve  others  preceding  it 
on  the  route  going  westward,  is  named  Lac  Sesakinaga,  evidently 
the  same  as  our  present  Lake  Saganaga.  Rainy  lake  is  called 
Lac  Tecamamisuen ;  but  the  Lake  of  the  Woods  and  Lake  Winni- 
peg, though  clearly  identifiable  by  their  delineation,  the  former 
having  many  islands,  and  the  latter  being  narrowed  at  the  middle, 
are  unnamed.  The  Saskatchewan  river,  of  which  only  the  lower 
part  is  shown,  not  extending  to  the  junction  of  its  south  and 
north  branches,  is  called  Fleuve  de  1'Ouest  (River  of  the  West). 


270  M1.VNKSOTA   JN   THREE  CEV1T  \l\  K>. 

The  sketch  was  most  alluring  to  the  French  spirit  of  exploration 
and  commercial  expansion;  for  it  seemed  to  promise,  as  also  did 
the  verbal  statements  of  the  Indians,  that  there  was  a  passage 
to  be  discovered  westward,  for  travel  and  trade,  to  the  Pacific 
ocean. 

Not  far  south  of  the  Saskatchewan,  this  sketch  map  bears, 
in  the  place  of  the  Porcupine  and  Pasquia  hills,  the  name  Mon- 
tagnes  de  pierres  brill  antes  (Mountains  of  shining  stones),  which 
probably  suggested  later  the  names  Shining  mountains  and 
Itocky  mountains,  applied  to  our  great  western  Cordilleran  belt. 
As  known  by  Ochagach,  however,  and  described  by  him  or  others 
of  the  Indians  to  the  French,  the  mountains  of  his  sketch  were 
doubtless  the  Cretaceous  escarpment,  generally  from  500  to  1,000 
feet  in  height  of  mostly  steep  ascent  from  its  base  to  its  top, 
south  of  the  lower  Saskatchewan  and  west  of  lakes  Winnipegosis 
and  the  Red  river.  This  escarpment  is  now  known,  in  its  suc- 
cessive parts  from  north  to  south,  as  the  Pasquia  and  Porcupine 
hills,  Duck,  Riding,  and  Pembina  mountains,  and  the  Coteau 
des  Prairies,  which  reach  from  the  Saskatchewan  valley  south- 
ward into  North  Dakota  and  to  the  southwest  part  of  Minnesota. 

The  "shining  stones"  were  probably  selenite  crystals  from 
the  Cretaceous  shales,  the  same  as  those  which  Groseilliers  and 
Radisson  had  seen,  or  of  which  they  had  heard  some  description, 
during  their  visit  nearly  seventy  years  before,  in  1660,  among 
the  Prairie  Sioux,  in  whose  country,  as  Radisson  wrote,  "There 
are  mountains  covered  with  a  kind  of  Stone  that  is  transparent 
and  tender,  and  like  to  that  of  Venice."  The  Sioux  or  Dakota 
people  knew  of  the  selenite  crystals  in  the  shales,  and  in  the 
comparatively  thin  overlying  glacial  drift,  which  together  form 
the  Coteau  des  Prairies;  and  the  Assiniboines  knew  of  the  same 
"shining  stones"  of  the  same  formations  in  the  Pembina,  Riding, 
and  Duck  mountains,  and  in  the  Porcupine  and  Pasquia  hills. 

JOURNALS  OF  EXPEDITIONS  OF  VERENDRYE  AND" 

HIS  SONS. 

The  chief  original  sources  of  knowledge  of  the  explorations 
of  Yerendrye  and  his  four  sons  are  the  early  French  colonial 


VERENDRYE  AND  HIS  SONS.  271 

documents,  of  which  a  large  number  relating  to  their  numerous 
exploring  expeditions  have  been  collected  and  published  by  Pierre 
Margry  in  the  sixth  volume  of  his  "Discoveries  and  Settlements 
of  the  French  in  the  West  and  in  the  South  parts  of  North  Am- 
erica, 1614-1754,  Memoirs  and  Original  Documents."  In  this 
last  volume  of  the  series,  printed  in  French  at  Paris  in  1886, 
pages  583-632  narrate  the  Verendrye  explorations.  The  most 
interesting  and  longest  document  of  this  group  is  in  pages  598- 
611,  containing  the  narration  of  the  journey  in  1742-43  by  two 
of  Verendrye's  sons  from  the  Saskatchewan  river  southwestward 
to  the  Missouri  and  thence  southwestward  to  the  Rocky  moun- 
tains. It  is  entitled  "Journal  of  an  Expedition  made  by  the 
Chevalier  de  la  Verendrye  with  one  of  his  Brothers,  for  Dis- 
covery of  a  Passage  to  the  Pacific  Ocean;  addressed  to  the 
Marquis  de  Beauharnois." 

TRADING  POSTS  ESTABLISHED  NORTHWEST  OF 
LAKE  SUPERIOR. 

In  1731,  Verendrye,  commissioned  and  equipped  by  the 
Canadian  government,  with  his  sons  and  his  nephew,  Jemeraye, 
began  their  explorations  far  west  of  Lake  Superior,  which  they 
left  by  the  route  of  Pigeon  river  and  the  series  of  lakes  and 
streams  continuing  westerly,  as  rudely  mapped  by  Ochagach, 
along  the  present  northern  boundary  of  Minnesota.  Fort  St. 
Pierre,  a  trading  post,  was  built  at  the  mouth  of  Rainy  lake; 
Fort  St.  Charles  on  the  west  side  of  the  Lake  of  the  Woods, 
near  the  49th  parallel;  and  other  forts  or  trading  posts  on  Lake 
Winnipeg  and  the  Assiniboine  and  Saskatchewan  rivers. 

Verendrye  had  more  zeal  for  crossing  the  continent  and 
reaching  the  Pacific  than  for  the  wealth  to  be  gained  by  the 
fur  trade.  His  expeditions  did  not  financially  meet  expenses, 
and  rivals  sought  to  displace  him  from  the  patronage  of  the 
governor  and  the  king;  but  shortly  before  his  death,  in  1749, 
when  he  had  expected  soon  to  set  out  again  on  new  expeditions, 
the  king  honored  him  by  the  cross  of  St.  Louis.  The  name  of 
the  St.  Louis  river,  the  largest  tributary  of  Lake  Superior,  pro- 
bablv  came  from  this  honor  conferred  on  him. 


272  MINNESOTA  IN  THEEE  CENTURIES. 

MASSACEE  AT  THE  LAKE  OF  THE   WOODS. 

The  travels  of  Verendrye  and  his  sons  in  and  adjoining 
the  area  of  Minnesota  are  very  meagerly  recorded,  without 
definiteness  of  dates  or  of  incidents,  excepting  one  appalling 
event. 

In  the  morning  of  the  6th  of  June,  1736,  the  eldest  son  of 
Verendrye,  a  Jesuit  missionary,  Father  Aulneau,  and  twenty-two 
French  voyageurs,  who  had  started  on  the  preceding  day  from 
Fort  St.  Charles  to  go  to  Mackinac  for  supplies,  were  sur- 
prised and  murdered  at  their  first  camping  place,  on  an  is- 
land of  the  Lake  of  the  Woods,  by  a  war  party  of  the  Prairie 
Sioux.  This  massacre,  from  which  not  one  of  the  Frenchmen 
escaped,  was  in  revenge  for  aid  and  temporary  leadership  by 
Yerendrye's  son  with  a  party  of  Crees  when  going  to  war 
against  the  Sioux  two  years  before.  Verendrye,  who  was  at  Fort 
St.  Charles  at  the  time  of  the  massacre,  was  afterward  urged 
by  great  numbers  of  the  Crees,  Assiniboines,  and  other  northern 
tribes,  to  lead  them  in  attacking  the  Sioux;  but  the  wiser 
counsels  of  the  bereaved  father  prevented  the  threatened  disas- 
ter of  a  general  outbreak  of  Indian  warfare. 

The  contemporary  and  later  accounts  of  this  tragedy  have 
been  brought  together  and  published  by  Lawrence  J.  Burpee  in 
the  Proceedings  and  Transactions  of  the  Royal  Society  of  Can- 
ada (Second  Series,  Volume  IX,  1903,  Section  II,  pages  15-28). 

In  a  more  recent  study,  Prof.  N.  H.  Winchell  concludes 
that  the  place  of  the  massacre  was  probably  the  long  sandy 
island  adjoining  the  mouth  of  the  Rainy  river  on  its  Canadian 
side. 

DISCOVERY  OF  THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAINS. 

A  very  satisfactory  manuscript  discussion  of  the  route  of 
the  farthest  western  expedition  of  the  sons  of  Verendrye. 
crossing  the  Plains  from  the  Missouri  river  to  the  Rocky  moun- 
tains, with  platting  of  the  courses  as  narrated,  has  been  sup- 


VERENDRYE  AND  HIS  SONS.  273 

plied  to  the  Minnesota  Historical  Society  from  a  corresponding 
member,  Captain  Edward  L.  Berthoud,  of  Golden,  Colorado. 
This  manuscript  was  received  through  the  kindness  of  another 
member,  Mr.  Olin  D.  Wheeler,  of  St.  Paul,  author  of  an  im- 
portant historical  work  in  two  volumes,  "The  Trail  of  Lewis 
and  Clark." 

Captain  Berthoud,  following  the  narrative  in  the  Margry 
Papers,  shows  that  quite  surely  the  'Yerendrye  sons  came,  by 
southwest  and  south-southwest  marching,  from  the  villages  of 
the  Mandans  on  the  Missouri  river  to  the  Big  Horn  mountains. 
They  first  got  a  distant  view  of  the  mountains,  as  the  Journal 
given  by  Margry  tells  us,  on  Xew  Year's  Day  of  1743.  On 
January  21,  in  a  great  war  party  of  the  Indians  of  the  Plains 
for  attacking  their  hereditary  enemies,  the  Shoshone  or  Snake 
Indians,  at  one  of  their  great  winter  encampments,  the  Veren- 
dryes  reached  the  foot  of  the  mountains,  which,  as  the  Journal 
says,  "are  for  the  most  part  well  wooded,  and  seem  very  high." 

If  they  went,  in  this  war  raid,  around  or  alongside  the 
north  end  of  the  Big  Horn  range,  they  may  have  passed 
beyond  the  Big  Horn  river,  coming  to  the  Shoshone  camp  near 
the  stream  now  known  as  the  Shoshone  river,  tributary  to  the 
Big  Horn  river  from  the  west,  so  that  the  mountains  near  whose 
base  was  the  camp  of  the  Snake  Indians  would  be  the  Shoshone 
mountains,  close  southeast  of  the  Yellowstone  Park.  Probably 
their  extreme  advance  to  the  Snake  Indian  camp,  was  somewhere 
in  the  foothills  of  the  lofty  and  extended  Big  Horn  range; 
and  if  they  went  beyond  that  range,  I  think  that  it  was  only 
to  the  Shoshone  mountains. 

The  general  route  of  the  return  was  eastward  to  the  Mis- 
souri river  as  narrated  in  the  Journal,  and  thence  northward  up 
the  west  side  of  the  Missouri,  to  the  Mandan  villages,  from 
which  the  expedition  had  started.  This  part  of  the  journey  is 
not  considered  in  Captain  Berthoud's  manuscript.  Both  the 
outward  march  and  the  route  of  the  return  are  well  discussed 
by  Parkman  in  his  work  of  two  volumes,  "A  Half  Century  of 
Conflict,"  published  in  1892.  Volume  II,  in  pages  29-58,  with 
a  sketch  map  of  the  routes  going  to  the  Rocky  mountains  and 

I.-16 


274  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTUBIES. 

returning  east  to  the  Missouri,  as  recorded  in  the  Journal 
printed  by  Margry,  gives  a  very  vivid  account  of  this  whole  ex- 
pedition. 

When  the  Verendryes  readied  the  Missouri  on  the  i  >  - 
turn,  a  cairn  monument  was  erected  by  them  on  some  hill  or 
point  of  the  bluffs  overlooking  that  great  stream,  and  a  lead- 
en plate,-  commemorating  the  expedition,  was  buried.  This  lo- 
cality was  somewhere  near  the  present  south  boundary  of  South 
Dakota,  about  a  month's  travel  below  the  Mandin  villages. 
It  would  be  a  most  interesting  discovery  if  this  plate  of  lead. 
"bearing  the  arms  and  inscription  of  the  king,"  could  be  found. 
Its  burial  was  unknown  to  the  Indians,  who  were  merely  told 
that  the  cairn  was  built  as  a  memorial  of  the  coming  of  these 
Frenchmen  to  their  country. 

THE   SEAECH  FOE  THE  WESTERN   SEA. 

The  printing  of  this  volume  had  proceeded  to  the  foregoing 
part  of  this  chapter,  when,  in  the  summer  of  1908,  I  learned 
of  the  work  by  Lawrence  J.  Burpee,  librarian  of  the  Carnegie 
Public  Library  of  Ottawa,  Canada,  then  published  in  a  large 
book  (lx  and  651  pages)  entitled  "The  Search  for  the  Western 
Sea,  the  Story  of  the  Exploration  of  North-western  America." 
Perusal  of  that  work  leads  me  to  add  here  a  short  summary 
partly  derived  from  it,  of  the  pioneers  of  westward  exploration 
in  their  relation  to  the  area  of  Minnesota. 

First  were  Groseilliers  and  Eadisson,  in  1655  and  1660, 
whose  journeys  extended  into  this  area,  but  not  probably,  as  I 
think,  to  its  western  or  northern  boundaries.  Du  Luth  and  Hen- 
nepin,  coming  in  1679  and  1680,  and  Perrot  and  Le  Sueur.  in 
1683  to  1700,  also  explored  parts  of  Minnesota,  but  went  no  far- 
ther west  or  north,  excepting  Du  Luth  on  the  north  side  of  Lake 
Superior.  None  of  these  seems  to  have  sought  for  a  route  to 
the  Western  ocean,  except  again  Du  Luth,  who  wrote:  "My 
design  was  to  push  on  to  the  sea  in  a  west-northwesterly  direc- 
tion." 

The  Pacific  ocean,  so  named  by  Magellan  in  1520,  was  some- 
what well  delineated,  with  the  name  "Sea  of  the  South,"  by 


VERENDRYE  AXD  HIS  SONS.  275 

Hennepin's  map  in  1683,  for  the  west  shores  of  Central  America, 
Mexico,  and  California;  but  its  northward  continuation  was  un- 
known. Buache's  map  in  1754  conjecturally  placed  a  very  large 
bay  of  this  ocean,  called  the  "Sea  of  the  West,"  at  the  distance 
of  only  about  300  miles  west  from  the  northern  part  of  Lake 
Winnipeg,  called  Lac  Bourbon,  and  some  200  miles  west  of  the 
sources  of  the  Assiniboine  river. 

Jacques  de  Xoyon,  a  French  Canadian  voyageur,  about  the 
rear  1688,  was  probably  the  first  white  man  to  traverse  a  part 
of  our  northern  boundary.  As  narrated  by  an  official  report 
of  the  Intendant  Begon,  written  at  Quebec,  November  12,  1716, 
published  in  the'  Margry  Papers  (Vol.  VI,  pp.  495-8),  De 
Noyon,  about  twenty-eight  years  previous  to  that  date,  had  set 
out  from  Lake  Superior  by  the  canoe  route  of  the  Kaministiquia 
river,  under  the  guidance  of  a  party  of  Assiniboine  Indians,  in 
the  hope  of  coming  to  the  Sea  of  the  West.  He  passed  through 
Rainy  lake,  called  the  Lake  of  the  Crees,  and  wintered  on  its 
outflowing  river,  the  Tekamamiouen,  "otherwise  called  Ouchichiq 
by  the  Crees,"  evidently  the  Koochiching  or  Eainy  river  and 
falls,  from  which  one  of  our  newer  counties  is  named. 

De  Xoyon  learned  of  the  Lake  of  the  Woods  or  of  the  Isles, 
"otherwise  called  the  Lake  of  the  Assiniboines,"  and  that  its 
outlet  "flows  into  the  Sea  of  the  West,  according  to  the  report 
of  the  Savages,"  thus  mistaking  Lake  Winnipeg  to  be  a  part  of 
the  Pacific  ocean.  He  appears  to  have  descended  the  -Bainy  river 
to  the  Lake  of  the  Woods,  giving  descriptions  of  the  portages  at 
the  falls  and  rapids  of  the  river;  he  noted  correctly  the  differing 
character  of  the  country  on  the  left  and  the  right  adjoining  that 
lake,  but  he  probably  went  no  farther  west  or  north. 

In  connection  with  their  official  report,  De  Vaudreuil,  then 
governor  of  Canada,  and  Begon,  intendant,  recommended  to  the 
King  that  three  posts  should  be  established  as  means  for  the  dis- 
covery of  the  Western  Sea,  one  at  the  mouth  of  the  Kaministi- 
quia, a  second  on  Eainy  lake,  and  the  third  at  the  Lake  of  the 
Woods.  The  first  of  these  proposed  posts  or  forts  was  built  in 
the  autumn  of  1717,  but  none  seems  to  have  existed  farther  west 
until  Verendrve  established  his  first  western  posts  in  1731. 


276  MINNESOTA   IN   THREE    ('KNTUMES. 

During  the  meantime  a  better  route  for  canoe  travel  from 
Lake  Superior  to  Rainy  lake  came  into  frequent  u-e.  as  is  in- 
dicated by  a  letter  of  an  officer  named  1'achot,  dated  at  Quebec. 
O.tober  27,  1722  (in  Margry  Papers.  VI.  513-517),  who  wrote: 
"The  preferable  route  to  go  to  the  intended  post  will  be  by  a. 
little  river,  named  Nantokouagane,  which  is  about  seven  leagues 
from  Kaministiquia."  Though  the  distance  noted  is  too  small, 
the  route  so  recommended  was  that  of  the  Grand  Portage  and 
Pigeon  river,  which  became  the  international  boundary. 

Charlevoix,  commissioned  in  France  to  visit  Canada  and 
Louisiana,  with  the  purpose  of  advising  the  home  government 
concerning  explorations  for  crossing  the  continent,  traveled  ex- 
tensively in  these  great  provinces  or  colonies,  together  called  New 
France,  in  the  year  1721.  He  reported  that  the  Western  Sea 
could  probably  be  best  reached  by  ascending  the  Missouri  river 
and  thence  pushing  westward.  The  best  that  could  be  soon  un- 
dertaken, however,  toward  this  object,  was  to  establish  a  trading 
po>t  and  a  mission  among  the  Sioux,  which  was  done  in  the  au- 
tumn of  1727,  by  an  expedition  from  Montreal.  This  post, 
named  Fort  Beauharnois  in  honor  of  the  governor  of  Canada  at 
that  date,  and  the  Mission  of  St.  Michael  the  Archangel,  occupy- 
ing a  log-house  inside  the  stockade  of  the  fort,  were  near  the 
site  of  Villa  Maria  Convent  at  Frontenac,  Minnesota,  but  on  lower 
ground,  beside  Lake  Pepin.  Rene  Boucher,  the  Sieur  de  la  Per- 
rier,  was  the  builder  and  first  commander  of  the  fort;  and  the 
mission  house  was  built  by  two  Jesuit  missionaries,  Michel 
Guignas  and  Nicolas  de  Gonnor,  being  "the  first  Christian  tem- 
ple in  what  is  now  Minnesota." 

In  1735  Legardeur  de  Saint  Pierre  became  commander  of 
Fort  Beauharnois,  which  on  May  13,  1737,  on  account  of  Indian 
hostilities,  he  abandoned  and  burned,  departing  down  the  "Mis- 
sissippi. It  was  rebuilt  in  1750,  and  for  the  next  two  years  was 
under  the  command  of  Pierre  Paul  Marin.  Very  interesting 
sketches  of  the  history  of  this  "last  French  post  in  the  valley  of 
the  upper  Mississippi,"  and  notices  of  its  commandants,  were 
given  by  Dr.  Neill  in  his  History  of  Minnesota  and  in  later 
pamphlets. 


VEREXDRYE  AND  HIS  SONS.  277 

The  cherished  quest  of  Du  Luth,  to  search  out  a  way  west 
to  the  sea,  was  taken  up  most  earnestly  by  Yerendrye  and  his 
sons,  as  already  related;  but  the  goal  was  not  attained  till  half 
a  century  later,  in  1792-3,  when  Alexander  Mackenzie  crossed 
the  great  western  mountain  belt  in  Canada,  by  the  way  of  the 
Peace  river,  and  reached  the  ocean.  Yet  later  Lewis  and  Clark, 
in  1805,  by  the  route  which  Charlevoix  had  advised,  in  the 
northern  United  States,  traversed  the  mountain  barriers  to  the 
Sea  of  the  West. 

EARLIEST  MAPS  BASED  PARTLY  OX  THE  WORK  OF 
THE  VEREXDRYES. 

A  map  very  rudely  sketched,  probably  by  Verendrye  or  un- 
der his  direction,  in  1737,  for  the  governor,  Beauharnois,  after 
remaining  in  manuscript  nearly  a  hundred  and  fifty  years,  was 
published  in  1884  by  Prof.  X.  H.  Wine-hell,  the  state  geologist 
of  Minnesota,  in  the  first  volume  of  his  Final  Report.  It  is  the 
oldest  map  giving  the  present  names  of  Red  lake  and  Red 
river,  Roseau  lake,  the  Lake  of  the  Woods,  and  Lake  Winnipeg. 
Far  southwest  of  Lake  Winnipeg,  a  river  is  represented  as  emp- 
tying into  a  lake,  or  sea,  presumably  the  Pacific  ocean,  with 
cities  at  its  mouth. 

Philip  Buache,  a  French  geographer,  in  1754,  more  boldly 
mapped  Xew  France  or  Canada  as  stretching  westward  past 
Minnesota,  Lake  Winnipeg,  the  Assiniboine  and  the  Saskatche- 
wan, to  the  Rocky  mountains,  which  are  delineated  as  a  narrow 
north  to  south  range,  but  are  not  named,  while  immediately 
beyond  is  a  "Sea  of  the  West,"  about  as  large  as  Hudson  bay  or 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  like  them  deeply  indenting  the  continent. 
From  Buache's  map,  preserved  among  the  state  papers 
of  France,  a  tracing  was  made  for  Dr.  Xeill,  as  also  of  Veren- 
drye's  map,  with  which  it  is  published  by  Winchell.  Buache 
here  earliest  gives  the  French  form  of  the  present  name  of 
Rainy  lake.  It  had  before  been  designated,  on  the  maps  by 
Ochagach  and  Verendrye,  by  an  aboriginal  name,  which  probably 
was  translated  into  the  French  and  English  names.  Curiously, 


278  MINNESOTA   IN   THREE    CENTURIES. 

Red  Lake  and  Mille  Lacs,  respectively  the  first  and  second  in 
size  among  our  ten  thousand  lakes  lying  wholly  within  the 
state  of  Minnesota,  are  represented  as  only  a  single  lake  on 
both  Verendrye's  and  Buache's  maps,  having  two  outlets,  one  to 
the  west  as  is  true  for  Red  Lake,  and  one  to  the  south  as  is 
true  for  Mille  Lacs. 

SUGGESTION   FOR   A  MEMORIAL   NAME. 

It  may  well  be  hoped  that  some  county  yet  to  be  formed 
on  the  northern  border  of  Minnesota  will  receive  the  name 
Verendrye,  in  historic  commemoration  of  the  explorations,  hard- 
ships, and  sacrifices  of  the  patriotic  and  truly  noble  Sieur  de  la 
Verendrye  and  his  sons.  He  was  the  founder  of  the  fur  trade 
in  northern  Minnesota,  in  Manitoba,  and  the  Saskatchewan  re- 
gion, where  it  greatly  flourished  during  the  next  hundred  years; 
and  two  of  his  sons  were  the  first  white  men  to  see  the  Rocky 
mountains,  or  at  least  some  eastern  range  of  our  great  Cordil- 
leran  mountain  belt. 


Chapter  X. 

JONATHAN  CARVER. 

FALL  OF   NEW  FKANCE. 

THE  treaty  of  peace  at   Paris  in  1763  took  New  France 
from    the   people   who    had   explored    and    colonized   it. 
France  ceded  Canada  to  Great  Britain,  and  Louisiana, 
the   largely   unknown  region   west  of  the   Mississippi,   to    Spain. 
So  was  fair  France  humiliated  at  the  end  of  the  Seven  Years 
War   of    Europe    and    the    French    and    Indian    War    of    North 
America. 

The  motto  on  the  state  seal  of  Minnesota,  "L'Etoile  du 
Nord,"  is  a  tribute  to  the  memory  of  the  French  explorers  who 
first  discovered  and  mapped  Lake  Superior,  the  upper  part 
of  the  Mississippi,  and  the  great  region  which  today  forms  this 
state.  The  language  chosen  for  the  motto  was  the  only  language 
of  Europeans  coming  here  during  the  first  century  of  discovery ; 
and  Minnesota  may  well  claim  its  place  as  the  North  Star  of  our 
Union,  by  reason  of  its  geographic  position.  It  reaches  farther 
north  than  any  other  state  eastward,  and  indeed  it  also  sur- 
passes any  state  or  territory  westward,  excepting  Alaska,  because 
Minnesota  possesses  a  considerable  tract  north  of  the  forty-ninth 
parallel  on  the  west  side  of  the  Lake  of  the  Woods,  extending 
to  the  "Northwest  Angle"  of  this  lake,  a  point  of  much  promi- 
nence in  the  treaties  establishing  the  international  boundary. 

New  France  stretched  from  Acadie  and  Quebec  west  to  Min- 
nesota, and  thence  northwest  to  the  Saskatchewan  and  south  to 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  It  comprised,  with  somewhat  vague  bounda- 
ries about  half  of  this  continent,  which  the  French  pioneers  of 
commerce  and  of  Christian  missions  had  made  known  to  the 


280  M1NNKSOTA    IN    T!  1 1,'KK    CK  NT  TIMES. 

world  and  claimed  loyally  as  possessions  of  the  crown  of  France, 
although  their  setilements  and  actual  occupation  of  the  country 
were  limited,  throughout  the  vast  interior  region,  to  widely  sep- 
arated trading  posts  and  missions  established  on  the  large  lakes 
and  riviT>. 

The  number  of  the  French  in  Minnesota  and  indeed  along 
all  the  extent  of  the  .Mississippi  above  New  Orleans,  and  in  all 
the  region  of  the  Great  Lakes  tributary  to  the  St.  Lawrence,  was 
merely  a  handful,  in  comparison  with  the  thousands  of  the 
red  aboriginal  people.  But  these  people,  who  tipped  their  ar- 
rows with  flaked  stone  and  were  ignorant  of  the  art  of  reducing 
iron  from  its  ores,  became  soon  dependent,  in  a  large  degree,  on 
the  traffic  of  their  furs  for  the  firearms  and  other  commodities 
of  the  French  traders.  Living  with  the  red  men  and  often  be- 
friending them,  acquiring  their  language,  and  advising  and  lead- 
ing them  in  their  intertribal  wars,  the  French  gained  an 
authority  and  influence  far  out  of  proportion  with  their  numeri- 
cal strength  and  thus  became,  in  a  sense,  the  owners  of  half  of 
North  America.  Disastrous  wars,  however,  in  Europe  and  here 
wrested  all  this  country  from  France,  and  now  she  owns  no  part 
of  the  region  which  her  commercial  enterprise  and  religious  xeal 
had  grasped  and  christened  as  a  New  France  in  the  New  World. 

After  the  cession  of  Canada  in  the  treaty  of  Paris,  Febru- 
ary 10,1763,  many  of  the  French  voyageurs,  by  whom  supplies 
had  been  carried  to  the  trading  posts  and  the  valuable  furs  had 
been  brought  in  canoe  loads  for  shipment  to  Europe,  transferred 
their  service  to  the  new  English  and  Scotch  proprietors  of  the 
fur  trade;  but  from  the  date  of  that  treaty  the  extension  and  pub- 
lication of  geographic  knowledge  of  Minnesota  and  the  North- 
west were  carried  forward  chiefly  by  English-speaking  explorers. 

BIOGRAPHIC  SKETCH  OF  CARVER. 

The  first  traveler  and  author  visiting  and  describing  Minne- 
sota after  France  lost  her  American  possessions  was  Jonathan  Car- 
ver, who  was  born  in  1732,  in  Canterbury.  Connecticut.  He  was 
n  lieutenant,  and  afterward  a  captain,  in  the  French  and  In- 


JONATHAN  CARVER. 


JONATHAN   CARVEK.  281 

dian  War  during  the  years  1757  to  1763.  When  peace  was  de- 
clared and  Canada  ceded  to  the  English,  Carver  "began  to  con- 
sider," as  he  says  in  the  introduction  of  his  book  of  Travels,  how 
he  "might  continue  still  serviceable,  and  contribute,  as  much 
as  lay  in  my  power,  to  make  that  vast  acquisition  of  ter- 
ritory, gained  by  Great  Britain,  in  North  America  advantageous 
to  it."  He  resolved  to  explore  the  most  unknown  parts  of  Can- 
ada, as  he  further  tells  us,  and  hoped  to  cross  the  continent  to  the 
Pacific  ocean. 

Starting  from  Boston  in  June,  1766,  Carver  traveled  to 
the  strait  of  Mackinaw  and  Green  Bay,  and  thence,  by  the  canoe 
route  of  the  Fox,  Wisconsin,  and  Mississippi  rivers,  to  the  area 
of  Minnesota.  Here  he  spent  the  following  winter,  with  tribes 
of  the  Sioux.  At  his  return  east,  begun  in  the  spring  of  1767,  he 
made  a  treaty,  as  it  may  be  called,  with  two  of  the  Sioux  chiefs, 
who  formally  granted  to  him  a  large  tract  of  land  on  the  east 
side  of  the  Mississippi  river,  including  the  area  of  the  present  city 
of  St.  Paul. 

On  the  threshhold,  as  it  seemed,  of  the  attainment  of  his 
hopes  for  discoveries  in  the  far  west,  Carver  was  obliged  to  turn 
back.  His  supply  of  goods,  to  be  used  as  presents  to  the  In- 
dian tribes  among  whom  he  hoped  to  travel  to  the  Pacific,  must 
be  replenished.  Therefore  he  voyaged  back  to  Prairie  du  Chien, 
and  thence,  by  the  route  of  the  Chippewa  river  and  the  head 
streams  of  the  St.  Croix,  to  Lake  Superior  and  to  the  Grand 
Portage  on  its  northwest  side.  But  he  was  unable  to  purchase 
sufficient  goods  from  the  traders  and  voyageurs  either  at  Prairie 
du  Chien  or  the  Grand  Portage,  and  reluctantly  gave  up  his 
purpose  of  penetrating  farther  west.  He  continued  his  return 
eastward  by  the  way  of  the  Great  Lakes,  and  arrived  at  Boston 
in  October,  1768,  having  occupied  nearly  two  years  and  a  half  in 
this  expedition. 

Soon  afterward  Carver  sailed  to  England,  where  he  spent  the 
remainder  of  his  life.  In  accordance  with  his  petition,  he  re- 
ceived from  the  government  a  reimbursement,  of  the  expenses  of 
his  explorations;  but  he  was  required  to  supply  for  the  colonial 
archive?,  at  much  personal  cost  and  without  recompense, 


282  MINNESOTA   IN   THKKK    (  KNTURIES. 

all  his  original  maps  and  manuscripts    relating   to   these   travels, 
after  they  had  been  placed  in  the  hands  of  a  publisher. 

When  this  work  was  finally  issued  in  1778,  it  brought  to 
Carver  little  or  no  financial  benefit.  Two  years  later,  overcome  by 
sickness  and  by  anxiety  to  provide  for  his  wife  and  children,  he 
died  January  31,  1780,  in  the  city  of  London. 

PUBLICATION  OF  CARVER'S  TRAVELS. 

From  copies  which  were  made  before  the  delivery  of  his  pa- 
pers to  the  government,  Carver's  "Travels  though  the  Interior 
parts  of  North  America,"  a  volume  of  543  pages,  with  two 
maps,  was  published  at  London  in  1778,  and  new  editions  were 
issued  the  next  year  in  London  and  in  Dublin. 

The  first  part  of  the  volume  is  "A  Journal  of  the  Travels, 
with  a  Description  of  the  Country,  Lakes,  etc."  in  180  pages. 
The  second  part,  entitled  "Of  the  Origin,  Customs,  Religion,  and 
Language  of  the  Indians,"  has  seventeen  chapters,  in  pages  181- 
440,  on  these  subjects,  and  two  additional  chapters,  pages  441-52(5, 
which  describe  the  fauna  and  the  flora. 

In  an  Appendix,  pages  527-543,  Carver  directed  attention 
to  the  desirability  of  establishing  colonies  in  the  region  newly 
acquired  by  Great  Britain  along  the  east  side  of  the  Mississippi 
river.  Eleven  large  tracts  are  described  in  numerical  order  as 
suitable  for  so  many  colonies  in  the  present  areas  of  Minnesota, 
Wisconsin,  Illinois,  Indiana,  Kentucky,  and  Tennessee,  and  are 
delineated  on  the  accompanying  map. 

After  the  author's  death,  his  friend,  Dr.  John  C.  Lettsom, 
contributed  to  the  third  London  edition,  in  1781,  a  biographic 
account  of  Captain  Carver,  in  22  pages,  including  the  first  publi- 
cation of  the  deed  or  grant  of  land  obtained  by  Carver  from  the 
Sioux  chiefs. 

Several  American  editions  of  this  work,  with  abridgment 
and  changes,  were  published  during  the  years  1784  to  1838 ;  and 
transactions  of  it  into  German,  French,  and  Dutch,  were  publish- 
ed respectively  in  1780,  1784,  and  1796. 


JONATHAN   CARVER.  283 

WINTER  OF  1766-67  WITH  THE  SIOUX. 

In  November,  1766,  while  Carver  was  making  the  canoe 
journey  up  the  Mississippi,  with  a  French  Canadian  and  a  Mohawk 
Indian  as  his  companions,  he  stopped  to  spend  a  day  or  two  with 
a  band  of  Sioux  somewhere  between  Lake  Pepin  and  the  mouth 
of  the  St.  Croix.  These  were  the  first  Sioux  to  whom  he  came 
in  this  journey,  and  he  won  their  admiration  and  gratitude  by 
his  cool  and  intrepid  conduct  in  meeting  a  large  number  of  hos- 
tile Ojibways,  who  were  approaching  to  attack  the  Sioux.  In 
a  long  parley  with  several  chiefs  of  the  Ojibways,  interpreted 
to  them  by  the  Frenchman  of  his  party,  Carver  persuaded  them  to 
desist  from  the  intended  attack. 

Proceeding  onward,  he  examined  the  cave  formerly  existing 
in  the  base  of  the  river  bluff  near  the  east  edge  of  the  present  city 
of  St.  Paul.  It  was  long  known  as  Carver's  cave,  and  was  much 
visited;  but  in  1872  and  later  it  was  partly  dug  away  in  the  con- 
struction of  railways  along  the  base  of  the  bluff. 

When  Carver  arrived  at  the  mouth  of  the  Minnesota  river, 
the  first  severe  cold  of  the  coming  winter  had  formed  ice  on 
the  Mississippi  that  obliged  him  to  leave  the  canoe;  but  he  went 
forward  afoot,  with  a  young  Winnebago  chief,  past  the  Falls  of 
St.  Anthony,  where  he  arrived  November  17th,  to  the  mouth  of 
Elk  river,  which  he  called  the  St.  Francis.  There  he  turned 
back  November  21st.  In  his  Travels  he  remarked:  "The  Mis- 
sissippi has  never  been  explored  higher  up  than  the  River  St. 
Francis,  and  only  by  Father  Hennepin  and  myself  thus  far." 
Le  Sueur  and  Charleville,  however,  as  related  in  a  preceding 
chapter,  had  voyaged  much  farther  up  the  Mississippi  nearly 
eighty  years  before  Carver's  visit.  It  is  also  probable  that  dur- 
ing this  intervening  time  many  unrecorded  journeys  along  that 
part  of  the  Mississippi  had  been  made  by  French  fur  traders. 

Returning  to  the  Minnesota  river  and  finding  it  not  yet  froz- 
en, Carver  ascended  it  with  his  canoe  to  the  neighborhood  of  the 
present  city  of  New  Ulm,  or  farther,  and  wintered  in  that  region 
with  Sioux  tribes  of  the  prairies.  He  continued  with  them  until 


284  M1NNKSOTA    IN    THHEE    CENTUM  KS. 

late  in  April,  and  .-nmewhat  J'ully  learned  their  language.  The 
great  prairie  plains  of  southwestern  Minnesota,  over  which  Car- 
ver hunted  with  these  Indians,  he  writes,  "according  to  their 
account,  are  unbounded,  and  probably  terminate  on  the  coast  of 
the  Pacific  ocean." 

Prom  the  Indians  he  learned  of  "the  River  Oregon,  or  the 
Ifiver  of  the  West,  that  falls  into  the  Pacific  ocean  at  the  straits 
of  Annian."  This  is  the  earliest  record  of  this  river  and  its 
name,  now  borne  by  a  state.  Twenty-five  years  afterward  it  re- 
ceived its  present  name,  Columbia  river,  from  the  Massachusetts 
ship  that  discovered  its  mouth. 

COUNCIL  AND  DEED  OF  LAND  TO  CARVER. 

On  the  voyage  of  return  down  the  Minnesota  river  to  its 
mouth  and  down  the  Mississippi  to  the  cave  in  the  present 
eastern  environs  of  St.  Paul,  Carver  was  accompanied  by  nearly 
three  hundred  of  the  Sioux,  including,  as  he  says,  many  of  their 
chiefs.  Arriving  at  the  cave,  where  the  many  Sioux  tribes  or 
bands  of  the  surrounding  country  were  accustomed  to  meet  for 
councils,  as  also  for  burying  the  bones  of  their  dead  in  the  mounds 
on  the  top  of  the  bluff,  Carver  made  a  speech  to  those  who  had 
accompanied  him,  advising  them  to  maintain  relations  of  friend- 
ship with  the  English.  The  principal  chief  replied,  promising 
this,  thanking  Carver  for  his  promoting  a  peace  between  the 
Sioux  and  the  Ojibways,  and  urging  that  the  fur  trade  should 
be  continued. 

In  addition  to  these  speeches,  which  Carver  recorded  in  his 
Travels,  he  wrote  a  deed,  to  which  two  of  the  chiefs  assented, 
appending  their  marks,  one  a  turtle  (or  a  beaver),  and  the  other 
a  snake,  by  which  they  granted  to  him,  and  to  his  heirs  and 
assigns  forever,  a  vast  tract  east  of  the  Mississippi  river,  includ- 
ing the  greater  part  or  all  of  the  area  that  is  now  St.  Paul.  It 
•  •\ tended  from  the  Falls  of  St.  Anthony  along  the  river  to  the 
southeast  end  of  Lake  Pepin,  and  reached  from  the  river  and 
lake  a  distance  of  a  hundred  miles  eastward. 


JONATHAN   CARVER.  2b5 

This  deed,  given  May  1,  1767,  was  not  mentioned  in  the 
early  editions  of  Carver's  Travels;  but  after  his  death  is  was 
published  by  Dr.  Lettsom,  as  before  noted,  in  the  third  edition. 
The  probable  reasons  for  the  author's  silence  in  his  book  are  well 
stated  by  Durrie  and  Draper  in  an  important  paper  in  the  sixth 
volume  of  the  Wisconsin  Historical  Society  Collections,  1872 
(pages  220-270).  Carver,  having  gone  to  England  to  publish  his 
explorations,  endeavored  to  secure  recognition  of  his  ownership, 
according  to  the  terms  of  the  deed,  from  the  king  and  his 
council,  before  whom  he  was  granted  a  hearing  in  February, 
1775;  but  the  Revolutionary  War  and  Carver's  death  caused 
the  claim  to  remain  undecided. 

As  written  by  Carver  and  signed  by  two  Sioux  chiefs,  the 
deed  conveyed  about  11,500  square  miles  in  the  present  states  of 
Minnesota  and  Wisconsin,  reading  thus: 

To  Jonathan  Carver,  a  chief  under  the  most  mighty  and  potent 
George  the  Third,  King  of  the  English  and  other  nations,  the  fame  of 
whose  courageous  warriors  have  reached  our  ears,  and  has  been  more 
fully  told  us  by  our  good  brother  Jonathan  aforesaid,  whom  we  re- 
joice to  see  come  among  us,  and  bring  us  good  news  from  his  country. 
We.  chiefs  of  the  Xaudowissies,  who  have  hereto  set  our  seals,  do  by 
these  presents  for  ourselves  and  heirs  for  ever,  in  return  for  the  many 
presents,  and  other  good  services  done  by  the  said  Jonathan  to  our- 
selves and  allies,  give,  grant,  and  convey  to  him  the  said  Jonathan, 
and  to  his  heirs  and  assigns  for  ever,  the  whole  of  a  certain  tract  or 
territory  of  land,  bounded  as  follows:  (viz.)  from  the  fall  of  St.  An- 
thony, running  on  the  east  banks  of  the  Mississippi,  nearly  south-east, 
as  far  as  the  south  end  of  Lake  Pepin,  where  the  Chipeway  river  joins 
the  Mississippi,  and  from  thence  eastward  five  days  travel,  accounting 
twenty  English  miles  per  day,  and  from  thence  north  six  days  travel, 
at  twenty  English  miles  per  day,  and  from  thence  again  to  the  fall  of 
St.  Anthony,  on  a  direct  straight  line.  We  do  for  ourselves,  heirs,  and 
assigns,  for  ever,  give  unto  the  said  Jonathan,  his  heirs  and  assigns, 
for  ever,  all  the  said  lands,  with  all  the  trees,  rocks,  and  rivers  therein, 
reserving  for  ourselves  and  heirs  the  sole  liberty  of  hunting  and 
fishing  on  land  not  planted  or  improved  by  the  said  Jonathan,  his  heirs 
and  assigns,  to  which  we  have  affixed  our  respective  seals,  at  the  great 
cave,  May  the  first,  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  sixty-seven. 
Hawnopawjatin  [with  his  mark  or  totem  of  a  turtle  or  a  beaver], 
Otohtongoomlisheaw  [with  his  mark  or  totem  of  a  snake]. 


286  MINNESOTA    IN    TIIIIKK    I'KNTURIES. 

By  the  terms  of  the  deed,  its  land  grant  had  a  maximum 
width  of  120  miles  on  the  line  drawn  due  north  to  form  its 
east  boundary;  and  from  the  north  end  of  that  line  the  north- 
ern or  northwestern  boundary  ran  southwesterly  in  a  straight 
course  about  175  miles  to  the  Falls  of  St.  Anthony.  The  side 
formed  by  the  river  and  lake,  in  their  irregularly  meandering 
but  generally  southeastward  course,  extends  on  a  direct  line  be- 
tween its  ends  about  70  miles. 

Measuring  due  east  100  miles  from  the  foot  of  lake  Pepin 
and  the  mouth  of  the  Chippewa  river,  the  southeast  corner  of  this 
grant  is  found  in  the  central  part  of  Wood  county,  Wisconsin, 
about  five  miles  southeast  of  Pittsville.  Thence  the  east  boun- 
dary, measured  due  north  120  miles,  passes  about  six  miles  east 
of  Marshfield,  Wis.,  through  the  west  part  of  Marathon  county, 
and  along  the  east  line  of  Taylor  and  Price  counties,  to  the  north- 
east corner  in  Iron  county,  about  two  miles  southeast  of  Mercer, 
Wis.  On  the  northwest,  the  straight  line  running  thence  to  the 
Falls  of  St.  Anthony  passes  near  Rossville  in  Sawyer  county, 
across  Red  Cedar  and  Upper  Turtle  lakes,  in  Barron  county,  and 
by  the  railway  towns  of  Turtle  Lake  and  Amery,  crosses  the 
St.  Croix  about  two  miles  north  of  the  mouth  of  Apple  river, 
and  crosses  the  central  part  of  White  Bear  Lake  in  Minnesota. 

The  northwest  boundary  of  the  grant,  thus  drawn  according 
to  the  exact  terms  of  the  description,  lies  wholly  north  of  the 
area  of  St.  Paul;  but  if  that  boundary  were  drawn  due  east  from 
the  Falls  of  St.  Anthony,  which  might  be  the  purpose  of  the  des- 
cription, it  would  cross  the  northern  part  of  St.  Paul,  passing 
close  north  of  Lake  Como  and  across  Lake  Phalon. 

Within  the  described  boundaries  the  grant  had  a  total  area 
of  11,500  square  miles,  approximately,  as  before  noted,  of  which 
only  about  325  square  miles  are  in  Minnesota,  comprising  some- 
what more  than  half  of  Ramsey  and  Washington  counties. 

The  centennial  anniversary  of  this  council  and  treaty  was 
celebrated  by  the  Minnesota  Historical  Society  on  May  1,  1867; 
and  its  proceedings,  including  an  address  on  "The  Life  and 
Explorations  of  Jonathan  Carver,"  by  Rev.  John  Mattocks,  are 
published  in  Volume  II  of  this  society's  Historical  Collections 
(pages  257-284). 


JONATHAN   CARVER.  287 


GRAND  PORTAGE,  THE  OLDEST  TOWN  IN  MINNESOTA 

Not  being  able  to  purchase  at  Prairie  du  Chien  the  goods 
needed  for  farther  westward  explorations  among  the  Indians, 
Carver  went  northward  by  the  canoe  route  of  the  Mississippi, 
Chippewa,  upper  St.  Croix  and  Brule  rivers  and  Lake  Superior  to 
Grand  Portage,  the  most  eastern  and  oldest  white  settlement  of 
Minnesota.  From  this  point  on  the  north  shore  of  Lake  Superior 
a  portage  of  about  nine  miles  was  made  by  canoe  voyageurs,  in  the 
service  of  the  fur  traders,  to  the  Pigeon  river,  on  the  northern 
boundary  of  Minnesota,  above  its  principal  rapids  and  falls.  Pro- 
bably during  the  period  of  Verendrye's  explorations,  this  place 
became  the  chief  point  for  landing  goods  from  the  large  canoes 
used  in  the  navigation  of  the  Great  Lakes,  and  for  their  being 
dispatched  onward,  from  the  end  of  this  long  portage,  in  smal- 
ler canoes  to  the  many  trading  posts  of  all  the  rich  fur  country 
northwest  of  Lake  Superior,  including  Rainy  lake,  the  Lake  of 
the  Woods,  Winnipeg,  and  the  vast  region  of  the  Red,  Assiniboine, 
and  Saskatchewan  rivers. 

Grand  Portage  was  already  a  most  important  rendezvous 
and  trading  post  in  1767,  when  Carver  went  there  in  the  hope 
of  purchasing  goods.  At  the  time  of  the  Revolutionary  War, 
as  Gen.  James  H.  Baker  has  well  said,  it  was  the  "commercial 
emporium"  of  the  northwestern  fur  trade.  Its  prominence  is 
shown  by  the  writings  of  Alexander  Henry,  who  arrived  there 
in  his  northwestern  travels,  June  28,  1775;  later  by  the  journals 
of  his  nephew,  bearing  the  same  name,  in  1800  to  1803;  and  by 
Sir  Alexander  Mackenzie's  "General  History  of  the  Fur  Trade 
from  Canada  to  the  Northwest,"  published  in  1801. 

In  Volume  VIII  of  the  Minnesota  Historical  Society  Col- 
lections, Captain  Russell  Blakeley  gave,  by  extracts  from  these 
and  other  writers,  an  excellent  portrayal  of  the  commerce  and 
mode  of  life  of  these  early  English-speaking  explorers  and  mer- 
chants of  Minnesota.  With  the  removal  of  the  great  fur  compan- 
ies' posts,  in  the  years  1801  to  1804,  to  the  New  Fort,  named 
in  1807  Fort  William,  in  honor  of  William  McGillivray,  of  the 


288  MINNESOTA    IX    TIIIJKK    (  KN'ITUI  KS. 

Northwest  Company,  situated  at  the  mouth  of  the  Kaministiquia 
ri\iT  in  Canada,  (I rand  Portage  lost  much  of  its  prestige;  but 
it  continued  through  all  that  century,  extending  almost  to  the 
present  time,  to  be  the  base  of  an  important  canoe  route  to  the 
Far  Northwest. 

Gen.  James  H.  Baker  writes  as  follows,  in  an  address  de- 
livered in  1898  before  the  Minnesota  Historical  Society,  published 
in  Volume  IX  of  this  series  of  Historical  Collections: 

Fort  William,  built  in  1801  to  1804,  on  the  Kaministiquia  river,  was 
the  chief  western  fort  of  the  Northwest  Company.  Another  important 
fort,  of  earlier  date,  was  on  our  own  soil,  at  the  southern  terminus  of 
the  Grand  Portage.  The  first  important  road,  lying  partly  in  our 
was  the  one  built  between  these  two  forts,  the  bridges  being  made  of 
ccilar  logs,  the  remains  of  some  of  which  I  myself  have  seen.  Tlie  road 
wa-  thirty-six  miles  long,  and  was  built  in  the  earliest  years  of  this 
century. 

The  locality  called  Grand  Portage,  at  the  site  of  the  old  trading 
post  and  fort,  on  the  south  end  of  the  portage  of  this  name,  is  on  a 
small  crescent-shaped  bay,  which  has  an  island  at  its  entrance,  146 
miles  from  Duluth.  There  is  still  a  band  of  Chippewa  Indians  located 
there.  I  have  read,  at  Fort  William,  in  a  journal  of  one  of  the  em- 
ployes of  the  Northwest  Company,  a  very  minute  and  detailed  account, 
in  a  rude  diary,  of  the  scenes  of  enterprise  and  traffic  which  he  saw 
at  Grand  Portage  in  the  summer  of  1800.  It  appears  that  at  that  time 
there  stood  in  the  center  of  the  semicircular  shore  of  this  bay  a  large 
fort,  well  picketed,  enclosing  several  acres  of  ground.  I  have  camped 
upon  the  spot  several  days,  and  found  the  place  most  eligibly  situated 
for  the  purposes  intended.  Here,  the  diary  -ay-,  was  a  house  for 
officers  and  men,  and  a  building  for  storage  and  stores.  There  was  a 
canoe  yard  containing  one  hundred  canoes  of  all  sizes.  Seventy  canoes 
were  contracted  for  annually  for  the  commerce  of  that  place.  His  diary 
notes  that  on  July  3d,  1800,  thirty-five  great  canoes  arrived  from 
Mackinaw,  each  carrying  from  three  to  five  tons  of  goods,  with  eight 
voyageurs  to  a  canoe.  Over  seventy  canoes  had  already  arrived  from 
the  west,  coming  from  Lake  Winnipeg  through  Rainy  river,  from  the 
Saskatchewan,  and  from  the  Athabasca  and  Great  Slave  lakes.  These 
were  laden  with  furs  and  pelts.  The  thirty-five  great  canoes,  from 
Montreal,  1800  miles  away,  were  laden  with  a  year's  supply  of  goods, 
foods,  liquors,  tea,  etc.  Grand  Portage  was  at  that  time,  and  as  early 
nt  least  as  1767,  the  grand  exchange  and  distributing  center  for  the 
fur  trade  in  that  part  of  the  world.  The  factors  themselves  were  pres- 
ent for  the  great  annual  settlement  of  business.  The  diary  goes  on  to 


JONATHAN  CAKVER.  289 

relate  that  several  hundred  white  men  were  there  assembled,  and  that 
over  seven  hundred  Indian  women  were  retained  by  the  company  to 
scrape  and  clean  the  skins,  and  to  make  up  the  packages  of  pelts.  The 
writer  describes  the  scene  as  having  all  the  air  of  a  busy  city. 

Carver  gives  the  following  description  of  his  canoe  voyage 
from  the  Brule  river  along  the  shores  of  Lake  Superior,  past 
its  western  end,  called  by  him  West  bay,  and  of  his  coming  in 
July,  1767,  to  Grand  Portage. 

The  latter  end  of  July  I  arrived,  after  having  coasted  through 
West  Bay,  at  the  Grand  Portage,  which  lies  on  the  north-west  borders 
of  Lake  Superior.  Here  those  who  go  on  the  north-west  trade,  to  the 
Lakes  De  Pluye,  Dubois  [Rainy  lake  and  the  Lake  of  the  Woods],  &c., 
carry  over  their  canoes  and  baggage  about  nine  miles,  till  they  come  to 
a  small  number  of  lakes,  the  waters  of  some  of  which  descend  into 
Lake  Superior,  and  others  into  the  River  Bourbon  [Nelson  river].  Lake 
Superior  from  West|  Bay  to  this  place  is  bounded  by  rocks,  except 
towards  the  south-west  part  of  the  Bay  where  I  first  entered  it,  there 
it  was  tolerably  level. 

At  the  Grand  Portage  is  a  small  bay,  before  the  entrance  of  which 
lies  an  island  that  intercepts  the  dreary  and  uninterrupted  view  over 
the  Lake  which  otherwise  would  have  presented  itself,  and  makes  the 
hay  serene  and  pleasant.  Here  I  met  a  large  party  of  the  Killistinoe 
and  Assinipoil  Indians  [Crees  and  Assiniboines],  with  their  respective 
kings  and  their  families.  They  were  come  to  this  place  in  order  to 
meet  the  traders  from  Michillimackinac,  who  make  this  their  road  to 
the  north-west. 

CARVER'S  MAPS. 

The  map  of  Carver's  Travels  shows,  in  such  details  as  his 
observations  and  inquiries  permitted,  the  greater  part  of  Min- 
nesota, excepting  its  western  border,  and  the  country  eastward  so 
far  as  to  include  lakes  Michigan  and  Superior;  for,  after  leaving 
Grand  Portage,  he  voyaged  along  the  northern  and  eastern  shores 
of  Lake  Superior  to  the  Falls  of  St.  Mary.  His  routes  are  mark- 
ed by  dotted  lines.  The  next  winter,  of  1767-68,  he  spent  at 
Mackinaw,  and  thence  during  the  next  summer  returned  by  the 
way  of  Bet-riot  and  Niagara  to  Boston. 

On  this  map  the  Minnesota  river  is  noted  as  "River  St. 
Pierre,  call'd  by  the  Natives  Wadapawmenesoter,"  and  at  its 

I.-17 


290  MINNESOTA   IN   THKEE    (  KNTURIES. 

north  side,  nearly  opposite  to  the  site  of  New  Ulm,  three  Sioux 
tepees  are  pictured,  with  the  statement  that  "About  here  the 
Author  Winter'd  in  1766." 

The  several  areas  occupied  by  the  Naudowessies  (Sioux), 
Chipeways  (Ojibways),  Saukies  (Sacs),  Ottigaumies  (Foxr>). 
and  Winnebagoes,  are  designated  with  dotted  boundaries;  and 
on  the  map  of  the  third  edition  these  boundaries  are  colored. 
The  country  of  the  Sioux  is  mapped  as  lying  west  of  the  Missis- 
sippi, excepting  a  relatively  small  area  on  its  eastern  side,  extend- 
ing from  the  St.  Croix  northwesterly  to  the  Elk  river,  which 
is  here  called  "River  St.  Francis." 

A  tract  comprising  the  southern  part  of  the  land  deeded  by 
the  Sioux  chiefs  to  Carver  is  outlined.  The  north  boundary  of 
this  tract  runs  due  east  from  the  Falls  of  St.  Anthony,  and  its 
south  boundary  runs  due  east  from  the  mouth  of  the  Chippewa 
river.  The  length  of  the  south  line  is  a  hundred  miles,  as  des- 
cribed by  the  deed.  From  its  east  end,  the  east  boundary  of  the 
tract  runs  due  north,  agreeing  in  its  direction  with  the  terms 
of  the  deed;  but  the  length  of  this  east  boundary,  which 
measures  the  width  of  the  tract,  terminated  by  the  line  drawn 
east  from  the  Falls,  is.  somewhat  less  than  fifty  miles,  instead 
of  "six  days  travel,  at  twenty  English  miles  per  day,"  which  the 
deed  required. 

The  lands  mapped  as  belonging  to  the  Indian  tribes  do  not 
include  this  tract,  which  was  bounded  by  the  Ojibways  on  the 
north,  the  Sacs  on  the  east,  the  Foxes  on  the  south,  and  the 
Sioux  on  the  west,  being  divided  from  the  latter  by  the  Mis-is- 
sippi  and  Lake  Pepin. 

Another  map  is  inserted  in  this  volume,  showing  the  con- 
tinent of  North  America  northward  from  the  Tropic  of  Cancer, 
excepting  its  then  unknown  northwestern  part.  The  chief  pur- 
pose of  this  map,  besides  indicating  the  continental  relationship 
of  the  country  explored  by  Carver,  was  to  outline  eleven  districts 
'•i<iM»  east  of  the  Mississippi,  which  he  described  in  the  Appendix 
as  noted  on  a  foregoing  page,  recommending  them  for  British 
colonization  in  the  great  region  acquired  from  France  in  1763. 
districts  are  numbered  from  the  northwest  to  the  south 


JONATHAN   CAEVER.  291 

and  cast.  In  the  first  and  second  editions  their  boundaries  are 
dotted;  and  in  the  third  edition  the  districts  are  separately 
colored,  making  them  the  most  conspicuous  part  of  th,e  map. 
The  areas  occupied  by  the  Indian  tribes  are  noted,  but  less  defi- 
nitely than  on  the  other  map  and  somewhat  differently. 

The  second  district  in  the  series  coincides  more  nearly  with 
the  area  deeded  to  Carver  than  the  tract  previously  noticed  ae 
outlined  on  a  larger  scale  by  the  map  of  his  travels.  Carver  wrote 
of  it  as  follows,  referring  to  his  map  of  North  America  and  the 
proposed  series  of  colonies. 

No.  II.  This  tract,  as  I  have  already  described  it  in  my  Journals, 
exceeds  the  highest  ecomiums  I  can  give  it;  notwithstanding  which  it 
is  entirely  uninhabited,  and  the  profusion  of  blessings  that  nature  has 
showered  on  this  heavenly  spot  return  unenjoyed  to  the  lap  from 
whence  they  sprung.  *  This  colony  lying  in  unequal  angles, 

the  dimensions  of  it  cannot  be  exactly  given,  but  it  appears  to  be  on 
an  average  about  one  hundred  and  ten  miles  long,  and  eighty  broad. 

THE  SIOUX  DEED  ANNULLED  BY  CONGRESS. 

The  numerous  endeavors  made  by  the  heirs  of  Captain  Carver 
and  by  others  to  whom  their  rights  were  assigned,  for  establish- 
ing their  claims  and  ownership  of  the  large  tract  of  land  deeded 
to  him  by  the  two  Sioux  chiefs,  have  been  narrated  by  Rev.  John 
Mattocks  in  his  address  at  the  Carver  Centenary  celebration  in 
1867,  published  in  Volume  II  of  the  Minnesota  Historical  So- 
ciety Collections;  by  John  Fletcher  Williams  in  his  "History  of 
the  City  of  St.  Paul  and  of  the  County  of  Ramsey,"  forming 
Volume  IV  in  the  same  series,  published  in  1876;  and  most 
fully,  with  many  documents  submitted  to  the  United  States  Con- 
gress, relating  to  the  Carver  claims,  in  an  article  by  Daniel  S. 
Durrie,  to  which  Lyman  C.  Draper  added  important  foot-notes, 
in  Volume  VI,  pages  220-270,  of  the  Wisconsin  Historical  Soci- 
ety Collections,  published  in  1872. 

Between  forty  and  forty-five  years  after  Carver's  death,  the 
supposed  rights  of  his  heirs  under  the  deed  were  denied  and 
annulled  in  Congress  by  the  Committees  on  Public  Lands  and 
on  Private  Land  Claims.  One  of  the  grounds  for  this  decision 


292  MINNESOTA   IX   THREE    CENTURIES. 

uas  that  no  citizens,  but  only  the  state,  whether  Great  Britain, 
as  in  1767,  or  the  United  States  after  the  treaty  of  1783,  could 
so  receive  ownership  of  lands  from  the  aborigines. 

Besides,  as  Col.  Henry  Leavenworth  showed,  the  Sioux 
l>ands  of  the  prairie  region,  who  were  with  Carver,  did  not  then, 
nor  within  the  knowledge  of  history,  possess  any  lands  or  hunting 
grounds  east  of  the  Mississippi.  The  wily  chiefs  granted  to  Car- 
ver what  they  did  not  own,  nor  was  this  tract  of  land  then 
claimed  by  any  of  the  Indian  tribes.  It  was  partly  noted  by  Car- 
ver, on  the  map  of  his  Travels,  as  a  "road  of  war,"  that  is, 
neutral  ground.  In  another  place  the  same  map  explains  this 
term  as  follows:  "All  Countries  not  Possessed  by  any  one  Nation, 
where  War  Parties  are  often  passing,  is  called  by  them  the  Road 
of  War." 

Carver  had  a  statesmanlike  and  prophetic  vision  of  the 
grand  development  of  agriculture,  commerce,  and  all  the  indus- 
tries of  civilization,  that  were  to  take  the  place  of  the  red  sa- 
vage hunting  tribes  in  the  upper  Mississippi  region.  In  ima- 
gination he  foresaw  the  great  states  now  adjoining  this  mighty 
river.  He  aimed  to  plant  there  colonies  of  Great  Britain,  which 
he  loved  as  a  loyalist,  unsympathetic  with  the  resistance  against 
grievances  which  led  the  colonies  on  the  Atlantic  coast  to  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  and  the  War  of  the  Revolution. 
One  of  the  group  of  colonies  which  he  depicted,  to  be  founded  on 
the  Mississippi  like  the  provinces  of  the  eastern  coast,  he  planned 
for  his  own  benefit  and  honor,  in  accordance  with  his  deed  from 
the  Sioux;  but  the  outbreaking  war  between  England  and  her 
American  colonies,  the  death  of  Carver,  in  anxiety  and  poverty, 
at  the  comparatively  early  ago  of  forty-eight  years,  and  the  un- 
favorable action  of  Congress,  defeated  his  well-laid  scheme  for 
personal  advantages  to  himself  and  his  descendants. 

Probably  about  twenty  years  before  the  date  of  Carver's 
treaty  and  deed,  the  Sioux  of  the  Mille  Lacs  country  had  boon 
vanquished  by  the  0  jib  way?  and  cornpellorl  to  retroat  southwnrrl 
to  the  Mississippi  river,  taking  new  homes  and  hunting  grounds 
there  between  the  Minnesota  river  and  Lake  Pepin.  As  narrated 
in  Chapter  V,  within  about  forty  years  after  the  time  of 


JONATHAN  CARVER.  293 

Carver,  these  Mdewakantonwan  Sioux  spread  yet  farther  down 
the  great  river,  and  then  and  later,  in  Pike's  and  Leavenworth's 
time,  they  claimed  ownership  of  much  of  the  country  on  its 
eastern  side;  but  when  Carver's  deed  was  given,  nearly  all  the 
area  of  his  grant  belonged  rather  to  the  Foxes  and  Ojibways 
than  to  any  of  the  Sioux  or  Dakotas  in  all  their  many  bands 
and  tribes. 

The  silence  of  Carver  concerning  the  deed  in  his  book  of 
Travels  was  for  prudential  reasons,  looking  forward  in  hope  of 
successful  fulfillment  of  his  plans  to  found  a  colony  in  that  most 
favored  district.  We  cannot  doubt  that  he  and  his  heirs  acted  in 
good  faith,  more  so  than  the  chiefs  who  signed  the  deed  with 
their  totem  marks. 

In  1818  and  1819  the  Sioux  chief  Red  Wing  testified,  for 
the  heirs  of  Carver,  that  the  two  chiefs  who  gave  the  deed  were 
his  uncles.  They  were  mentioned  by  Carver,  in  the  closing  part 
of  his  twelfth  chapter,  as  follows : 

There  is  some  difficulty  attends  an  explanation  of  the  manner  in 
which  the  Indians  distinguish  themselves  from  each  other.  Besides 
the  name  of  the  animal  by  which  every  nation  and  tribe  is  denominated, 
there  are  others  that  are  personal,  and  which  the  children  receive  from 
their  mother. 

The  chiefs  are  also  distinguished  by  a  name  that  has  either  some 
reference  to  their  abilities,  or  to  the  hieroglyphick  of  their  families; 
and  these  are  acquired  after  they  arrive  at  the  age  of  manhood.  Such 
as  have  signalized  themselves  either  in  their  war  or  hunting  parties, 
or  are  possessed  of  some  eminent  qualification,  receive  a  name  that 
serves  to  perpetuate  the  fame  of  these  actions,  or  to  make  their 
abilities  conspicuous. 

Thus  the  great  warrior  of  the  Xaudowessies  was  named  Ottah- 
tongoomlishcah,  that  is,  the  Great  Father  of  Snakes;  ottah  being  in 
English  father,  tongoom  great,  and  lishcah  a  snake.  Another  chief  was 
called  Honahpawjatin,  which  means  a  swift  runner  over  the  mountains. 
And  when  they  adopted  me  a  chief  among  them,  they  named  me  She- 
baygo,  which  signifies  a  writer,  or  &  person  that  is  curious  in  making 
hieroglyphicks,  as  they  saw  me  often  writing. 


Chapter  XI. 
MACKENZIE,  THE  HENRYS,  AND  THOMPSON. 

DTJBING    the    period    of    thirty-eight    years    between    the 
explorations  of  Carver  and  Pike,  additions  to  geographic 
knowledge  of  the  area  of  Minnesota  were  made  in  its 
northern    part    by    four    prominent    pioneers    for    the    fur    trade 
through  their  writings   and   records   of   surveys.     In   chronologic 
order    these    were    Alexander    Henry,    Sir    Alexander    Mackenzie, 
David  Thompson,  and  a  nephew  of  the  first,  bearing  the  same 
name. 

THE  ELDEE  HENEY. 

Alexander  Henry,  the  elder,  as  he  may  be  termed  in  distinc- 
tion from  his  nephew,  was  born  in  New  Brunswick,  N.  J.,  in 
August,  1739;  accompanied  the  Canadian  expedition  of  Sir 
Jeffrey  Amherst  in  1760;  was  engaged  in  the  western  fur  trade, 
tributary  to  Montreal,  during  the  next  sixteen  years;  and  pub- 
lished, in  1809,  his  "Travels  and  Adventures  in  Canada  and  the 
Indian  Territories,  between  the  Years  1760  and  1776."  He 
traversed  the  canoe  route  along  our  northern  boundary  in  1775, 
returning  by  the  same  route  the  next  year.  He  died  in  Montreal, 
April  14,  1824. 

SIE  ALEXANDEB   MACKENZIE. 

The  discoverer  and  explorer,  in  1789,  of  the  Mackenzie  river, 
which  bears  his  name,  had  four  years  earlier  come  to  Grand  Por- 

295 


296  MINNESOTA   IX   THKEE    CENTURIES. 

tage,  on  the  Minnesota  shore  of  Lake  Superior,  at  the  beginning 
of  his  partnership  in  the  fur  trade.  In  his  history  of  this  giv;ii 
commercial  industry,  placed  before  his  "voyages"  in  the  same 
volume,  published  in  1801,  Mackenzie  narrates  much  concerning 
both  the  white  men  and  the  red  men  of  northern  Minnesota 
during  the  last  third  of  the  eighteenth  century.  Many  names 
of  streams,  lakes,  and  portages,  which  he  traversed  there  and  far 
across  the  continent  to  the  north  and  west,  are  first  recorded  in 
his  pages  and  on  the  accompanying  maps.  In  1792-93  he  cross- 
ed the  Rocky  Mountain  and  Coast  ranges  of  the  Canadian  north- 
west, by  the  way  of  Peace  river,  to  the  Pacific  ocean.  He  was 
born  at  Stornoway  in  the  island  of  Lewis,  on  the  west  coast  of 
Scotland,  in  1763,  as  stated  by  Burpee  on  the  authority  of  Prof. 
George  Bryce;  and  died  at  Mulnain,  near  Dunkeld,  Scotland. 
March  11,  1820. 

THOMPSON'S  GEOGRAPHIC  WORK. 

David  Thompson,  born  in  the  parish  of  St.  John,  Westmin- 
ister (now  a  part  of  London),  England,  April  30,  1770,  became 
a  most  efficient  explorer  and  cartographer  of  northern  Minne- 
sota and  of  the  vast  country  reaching  thence  north  to  the  Great 
Slave  lake  and  Mackenzie  river,  and  west  to  Eraser  river  and  the 
Pacific.  He  began  this  work  for  the  Hudson  Bay  Company  at  the 
age  of  nineteen  years.  In  1797  he  transferred  his  service  to 
the  Northwest  Fur  Company,  and  in  March  and  April  of  the  next 
year  traveled  from  the  Red  River  valley  to  Red  Lake  and  to  Tur- 
tle lake,  the  latter  situated  on  the  most  northern  tributary 
of  the  Mississippi  river,  mapping  these  lakes  and  streams. 

In  1813  and  1814,  Thompson  drafted  for  the  Northwest 
Company,  a  large  map  of  the  Northwest  Territory  of  Canada,  and 
of  northern  Minnesota,  which  still  remains  in  manuscript.  His 
plats  and  field  note?,  largely  consist  ing  of  determinations  of  la- 
titude and  longitude  throughout  the  vast  area  of  his  explorations, 
fill  about  forty  record  books,  in  the  Surveys  Branch  of  the 
Crown  Lands  Department  of  Ontario,  at  Toronto.  Parts  of  the 
map,  and  many  notes  of  place  names  an.l  other  observations  from 


ALEXANDER  MACKENZIE. 


MACKENZIE,  THE  HENRYS,  AND  THOMPSON.  297 

his  field  books,  were  published  in  1897  by  the  late  Dr.  Elliott 
Coues,  in  his  "New  Light  on  the  Early  History  of  the  Greater 
Northwest."  The  reader  should  also  consult  a  valuable  paper  by 
Mr.  J.  B.  Tyrrell,  entitled  "A  Brief  Narrative  of  the  Journeys  <>£ 
David  Thompson  in  North-western  America,"  published  in  the 
Proceedings  of  the  Canadian  Institute  for  1888  and  also  as  a 
separate  pamphlet  of  28  pages. 

After  1815,  Thompson  was  during  ten  years  a  Canadian 
government  surveyor,  denning  and  mapping  parts  of  the  inter- 
national boundary  line,  from  the  eastern  provinces  westward  to  the 
Lake  of  the  Woods.  He  lived  afterward  nearly  twenty  years 
in  Glengarry,  Canada,  and  died  in  Longeuil,  near  Montreal, 
February  16,  1857.  Hubert  Howe  Bancroft  says  of  him:  "In 
the  westward  explorations  of  the  Northwest  Company  no  man  per- 
formed more  valuable  service,  or  estimated  his  achievement  more 
modestly." 

THE  YOUNGER  HENRY. 

The  journals  of  the  younger  Alexander  Henry,  edited  by 
Coues  and  published  in  three  volumes  under  the  title  before  noted, 
are  our  earliest  authority  for  many  geographic  names  of  northern 
Minnesota;  and  the  editor  added  useful  annotation,  identifications 
of  localities,  and  comparisons  with  the  names  given  by  Thomp- 
son, Mackenzie,  and  the  elder  Henry.  Through  these  journals 
we  are  made  acquainted  with  methods  of  fur  trading  which  reflect 
little  honor  on  the  white  men,  their  barter  with  the  red  men  be- 
ing largely  the  exchange  of  intoxicating  liquors  (chiefly  mm, 
much  diluted)  for  valuable  furs,  usually  at  an  unjustly  high 
rate  of  pecuniary  gain  to  the  white  trader. 

This  Henry  spent  the  years  1799  to  1808  in  the  region  of 
Lake  Winnipeg  and  the  Red  River,  mainly  occupying  trading 
posts  near  the  mouths  of  Park  and  Pembina  rivers,  and  several 
times  traversing  the  canoe  route  of  our  northern  boundary.  Dur- 
ing 1808-11  he  had  charge  of  three  different  trading  posts  on 
the  Saskatchewan  river,  living  in  close  relationship  with  the  In- 
dian tribes.  After  a  break  in  his  manuscripts,  leaving  two  years 


298  MINNESOTA   IN   THREE   CENTURIES. 

and  five  months  that  have  no  record  preserved,  from  May  17, 1811, 
to  November  15,  1813,  Henry  spent  the  remaining  half  year  of 
his  life,  noted  in  his  journal,  mostly  at  Astoria  or  Fort  George, 
on  the  Columbia  river  near  its  mouth,  with  extensive  canoe  voy- 
ages up  the  Columbia  and  Willamette  rivers.  He  died  by  drown- 
ing in  the  Columbia  on  May  22,  1814. 

CANOE  ROUTE  FROM  GRAND  PORTAGE  TO  THE  LAKE 
OF  THE  WOODS. 

The  lakes  and  streams  of  our  international  boundary  from 
Lake  Superior  to  the  Lake  of  the  Woods,  with  portages  past  water- 
falls and  rapids  and  across  land  divides,  formed  a  great  highway 
or  thoroughfare  of  canoe  travel  and  the  commerce  of  the  north- 
western fur  trade  during  more  than  a  century.  It  began  to  be 
thus  used  in  the  time  of  Verendrye,  and  continued  to  be  the 
chief  route  of  this  vast  interior  commerce  until  after  Min- 
nesota was  admitted  to  the  Union  as  a  state.  The  building  up 
of  St.  Paul,  St.  Anthony  and  Minneapolis,  St.  Cloud,  and 
Crow  Wing,  on  the  Mississippi,  and  the  later  construction  of 
railways,  diverted  the  traffic  into  new  courses.  Frequent  com- 
panies of  voyageurs  and  birch  canoes,  called  brigades,  passed  back 
and  forth  between  lakes  Superior  and  Winnipeg,  carrying  to  the 
west  provisions  of  food  and  articles  for  barter,  and  bringing  east- 
ward to  the  Great  Lakes,  on  the  way  to  Montreal  and  Quebec, 
the  very  valuable  peltries  of  the  beaver,  bear,  fox,  marten,  musk- 
rat,  otter,  mink,  lynx,  wolf,  and  other  fur-bearing  animals. 

Canoes  about  thirty-five  feet  long,  propelled  by  a  crew  of 
eight  to  ten  men,  or  sometimes  even  sixteen  or  eighteen  men, 
were  used  for  this  commerce  between  Montreal  and  the  north  shore 
of  Lake  Superior.  Their  usiial  load  was  a  hundred  and  twenty 
packages  of  ninety  pounds  each,  or  somewhat  more  than  five 
tons,  besides  several  passengers,  in  addition  to  the  crew,  and  their 
personal  baggage. 

On  the  arrival  at  Fort  William  or  at  Grand  Portage,  the 
lading  was  transferred  to  smaller  canoes,  about  twenty  to 
twenty-five  feet  long,  called  "North  canoes,"  adapted  for  shallower 


MACKENZIE,    THE    HENEYS,    AM)    THOMPSON.  299 

lakes  and  streams  and  for  being  carried  across  portages.  Five 
to  eight  voyageurs  were  commonly  the  crew  for  each  of  these 
smaller  craft,  by  which  the  goods  and  provisions  were  transported 
onward  to  Lake  Winnipeg  and  the  Bed,  Assiniboine,  and  Saskat- 
chewan rivers. 

NARRATIVE  BY  JOSEPH  LA  FRANCE,  1740-42. 

The  earliest  printed  description  of  parts  of  northern  Minne- 
sota is  found  in  a  quarto  volume  of  211  pages,  published  by  Ar- 
thur Dobbs  in  London  in  1744,  entitled  "An  Account  of  the 
Countries  adjoining  to  Hudson's  Bay."  Its  pages  29  to  45  con- 
tain a  narrative  by  a  French  and  0  jib  way  half-breed  named  Jo- 
seph la  France,  who  in  the  years  1740  to  1742  traveled  and 
hunted  with  the  Indians  through  northern  parts  of  this  state 
and  in  Manitoba,  starting  from  the  north  side  of  Lake  Superior 
at  Grand  Portage  and  finally  coming  at  the  end  of  June,  1742,  to 
York  Fort  or  Factorv,  on  Hudson  bay  at  the  mouth  of  the  Hayes 
river. 

He  passed  through  Eainy  lake  in  the  later  part  of  April  and 
early  May,  1740,  and  staid  ten  days  at  the  Koochiching  falls 
on  the  Eainy  river  near  the  outlet  of  this  lake,  where,  for  the 
purpose  of  fishing,  the  Moose  band  of  Ojibways  had  "two  great 
Villages,  one  on  the  North  Side,  and  the  other  on  the  South  Side 
of  the  Fall."  These  were  respectively  on  or  near  the  sites  of  Fort 
Frances  and  International  Falls. 

The  next  ten  days  were  occupied  by  the  canoe  journey  down 
the  Rainy  river  to  "Lake  Du  Bois,  or  Des  Isles"  (the  Lake  of  the 
Woods).  Of  the  region  through  which  this  river  flows  he  said: 
"The  whole  Country  along  its  Banks  is  full  of  fine  Woods,  in  which 
are  great  Variety  of  Wild-fowl  and  Beasts,  as  wild  Beaver, 
Stags,  Elk,  Deer,  &c.,  and  the  Eiver  and  adjoining  Lakes  full  of 
excellent  Fish." 

La  France  staid  a  month  on  an  island  of  the  Lake  of  the 
Woods  with  the  Ojibways  of  the  Moose  and  Sturgeon  bands,  fish- 
ing and  hunting.  He  next  passed  down  the  Winnipeg  river,  por- 
taging past  about  thirty  falls  or  rapids,  and  arrived  at  Lake 


300  MINNESOTA    IN    THREE    CENTURIES. 

Winnipeg  in  September.  The  autumn  was  spent  in  hunting 
beavers  with  the  Cree  Indians  east  of  this  lake. 

From  the  Indians  he  learned'  of  Red  lake  in  Minnesota,  but 
erroneously  supposed  it  to  be  west  instead  of  south  of  Lake  Win- 
nipeg, the  description  being  as  follows :  "On  the  West  Side  of  this 
Lake  the  Indians  told  him  a  River  enter'd  it,  which  was  naviga- 
ble with  Canoes;  it  descended  from  Lac  Rouge,  or  the  Red 
Lake,  called  so  from  the  Colour  of  the  Sand ;  they  said  there  were 
two  other  Rivers  run  out  of  that  Lake,  one  into  the  Mississippi, 
and  the  other  Westward,  into  a  marshy  Country,  full  of  Beavers." 
This  is  our  earliest  descriptive  notice  of  the  Red  River  valley. 

In  the  spring  of  1741,  La  France  made  a  canoe  on  Lake 
Winnipeg,  and  at  the  beginning  of  summer  passed  to  the  "Little 
Lake  Ouinipique,"  now  called  Lake  Manitoba,  west  of  which  were 
the  Assiniboines  of  the  Meadows,  that  is,  the  Prairies.  Farther 
north  lived  the  Assiniboines  of  the  Woods,  perhaps  meant  for  the 
Wood  Crees;  and  southward  were  "the  Nation  of  Beaux  Hom- 
ines," and  yet  farther  south,  on  the  west  side  of  the  Lake  of  the 
Woods  as  shown  by  the  accompanying  map,  were  "the  Sieux  In- 
dians." 

During  the  summer  and  autumn  of  that  year,  La  France 
canoed  to  "the  Lake  Du  Siens  *  *  *  about  100  Leagues 
from  the  other."  This  was  probably  Rice  lake  in  Minnesota,  on 
the  Wild  Rice  river  near  its  sources,  and  about  fifteen  to  twenty 
miles  northwest  of  Lake  Itasca.  He  described  it  thus:  "The 
Lake  Siens  is  but  small,  being  not  above  3  Leagues  in  Circuit; 
but  all  around  its  Banks,  in  the  shallow  Water  and  Marshes, 
-TOWS  a  kind  of  wild  oats,  of  the  Nature  of  Rice;  the  outward 
Husk  is  black,  but  the  Grain  within  is  white  and  clear  like  Rice; 
tliis  the  Indians  beat  off  into  their  Canoes,  and  use  it  for  Food." 
According  to  this  identification,  the  "River  Du  Siens"  of  La 
France  is  our  Red  River;  the  Fork  mentioned  by  him  is  ap- 
parently at  the  mouth  of  the  Wild  Rice  river;  and  the  eastern 
tributary  which  he  noted  would  be  the  Red  Lake  river,  called  "a 
rapid  River  from  the  Mountains  [highlands  east  of  the  broad  Red 
river  valley],  full  of  Falls,  upon  which  the  Nation  Du  Cris 
Panis  Blanc  inhabit,  who  are  still  a  Tribe  of  the  Christineaux" 
[Crees]. 


MACKENZIE,    THE    HENRYS,    AND    THOMPSON.  301 

Kef  erring  to  that  eastern  river,  the  narrative  continues:  "All 
the  Country  adjoining  this  River  is  also  full  of  Beavers.  Here 
the  Winter  overtook  him.,  and  he  was  obliged  to  part  with  his 
Canoe,  and  travelled  and  hunted  through  that  Country  for  six 
Months,  in  which  Time  he  passed  Northwards  near  100  Leagues, 
but  would  have  been  much  more,  had  he  followed  the  Course  of 
the  River  in  Summer  in  his  Canoe."  He  arrived  at  Lake  Cari- 
boux  in  March,  1742,  whence  the  River  Cariboux  flowed  north- 
ward, these  being  probably  Lake  St.  Martin  and  the  Dauphin 
river  of  today,  east  of  the  northern  narrow  part  of  Lake  Mani- 
toba. 

Thence  La  France  passed  eastward  to  the  larger  part  of 
Lake  Winnipeg,  north  of  its  Narrows,  which,  however,  not  know- 
ing it  to  belong  to  Lake  Winnipeg,  he  called  Lake  Pachegoia.  Of 
the  Saskatchewan  river  he  said:  "The  River  De  vieux  Hom- 
mes  runs  from  the  West  for  about  200  Leagues,  and  falls  into  this 
Lake,  *  *  *  it  has  a  strong  Current  and  is  always  muddy, 
but  there  are  no  Falls  upon  it." 

With  a  large  company  of  the  Cree  Indians  in  a  hundred  of 
their  small  canoes,  mostly  carrying  two  men  in  each  canoe,  La 
France  descended  the  Nelson  and  Hayes  rivers,  to  York  Fort, 
reaching  it  on  the  29th  of  June,  1742.  Like  Radisson,  who  visi- 
ted the  Crees  eighty  years  before,  he  much  emphasizes  the  small  - 
ness  of  their  canoes,  as  follows :  "The  Indians  being  obliged  to 
go  ashore  every  Day  to  hunt  for  Provisions,  delays  them  very 
much  in  their  Voyages;  for  their  Canoes  are  so  small,  holding 
only  two  Men  and  a  Pack  of  100  Beaver  Skins,  that  they  can't 
carry  Provisions  with  them  for  any  Time.  *  *  *  A  good 
Hunter  among  the  Indians  can  kill  600  Beavers  in  a  Season,  and 
can  carry  down  but  100,  the  rest  he  uses  at  home,  or  hangs  them 
upon  Branches  of  Trees,  upon  the  Death  of  their  Children  as  an 
Offering  to  them,  or  use  them  for  Bedding  and  Coverings." 

The  map  in  this  volume,  based  largely,  for  the  region  west 
and  northwest  of  Lake  Superior,  on  the  narrative  of  La  France,  is 
a  very  bungling,  bizarre,  and  widely  erroneous  attempt  to  delin- 
eate the  rivers  and  lakes  described  or  mentioned  by  him.  For 
example,  it  separates  the  southern  and  northern  parts  of  Lake 


302  MINNKSOTA    IX    Tlll.'KK    CENTUBIES. 

Winnipeg  by  a  river  communication  of  about  four  hundred 
miles,  on  which  the  lakes  here  identified  as  Lake  Manitoba,  Rice 
lake,  and  Lake  St.  Martin,  are  placed  hi  this  order  from  south 
to  north. 

I  am  indebted  to  Mr.  J.  B.  Tyrrell,  of  Toronto,  formerly 
oi  the  Geological  Survey  of  Canada,  for  directing  my  attention 
to  this  map  and  narrative,  with  the  result  that  we  thus  bring 
io  the  notice  of  geographers  and  historians  this  early  and  in- 
teresting account  of  various  localities  in  northern  Minnesota  and 
Manitoba. 

Since  the  foregoing  was  set  in  type,  another  discussion  of 
the  journeyings  of  La  France,  written  by  Burpee  in  "The 
Search  for  the  Western  Sea"  (pages  222-233),  very  recently 
published,  has  come  to  my  knowledge  and  is  found  to  differ  some- 
what from  my  conclusions  here  stated.  After  weighing  his  rea- 
sons for  the  parts  differently  understood  by  him,  I  still  think 
the  lakes  and  rivers  successively  visited  by  La  France  to  be  here 
rightly  identified,  including  his  coming  south  in  1741  to  the 
Rice  lake  of  northwestern  Minnesota,  renowned  among  the  In- 
dians of  that  region. 

JOURNEY  OF  THE  ELDER  HENRY,  1775. 

The  following  extracts,  before  used  by  Captain  Russell 
Blakeley  in  Volume  VIII  of  the  Minnesota  Historical  Society 
Collections,  are  from  the  elder  Henry's  "Travels  and  Adventures 
in  Canada/'  etc.,  (pages  236-246),  describing  his  expedition  along 
the  northern  border  of  the  area  of  this  state. 

On  the  10th  day  of  June,  1775,  I  left  the  Sault,  with  goods  and 
provisions  to  the  value  of  three  thousand  pounds  sterling,  on  board 
twelve  small  canoes  and  four  larger  ones.  The  provisions  made  the 
chief  bulk  of  the  cargo,  no  further  supply  being  obtainable  till  we 
should  have  advanced  far  into  the  country.  Each  small  canoe  was 
navigated  l>y  three  men,  and  each  larger  one  by  four.  *  »  * 

At  (lie  Crand  Portage  I  found  the  traders  in  a  state  of  extreme 
reciprocal  hostility,  each  pursuing  his  interests  in  such  a  manner  as 
might  most  injure  his  neighbor.  The  consequences  were  very  hurtful 
to  the  morals  of  the  Indian*. 


MACKENZIE,  THE  HENRYS,  AND  THOMPSON.  303 

The  transportation  of  the  goods  at  this  grand  portage,  or  great 
carrying-place,  was  a  work  of  seven  days  of  severe  and  dangerous 
exertion,  at  the  end  of  which  we  encamped  on  the  river  Aux  Groseilles 
[Pigeon  river].  *  *  * 

On  the  eighth  [day  of  July]  we  ascended  the  Groseilles  to  the 
carrying-place  called  the  Portage  du  Perdrix,  where  the  river  falls  down 
a  precipice  of  the  height  of  a  hundred  feet.  *  *  *  [The  description 
of  this  route  from  Grand  Portage  will  be  given  chiefly  from  Sir  Alex- 
ander Mackenzie.] 

On  the  twentieth  [of  July]  we  reached  Lake  Sagunac,  or  Sagnaga, 
distant  sixty  leagues  from  the  Grand  Portage.  This  was  the  hithermost 
post  in  the  northwest,  established  by  the  French;  and  there  was  for- 
merly a  large  village  of  Chipeways  here,  now  destroyed  by  the 
Nadowesyies  [Sioux].  I  found  only  three  lodges,  filled  with  poor,  dirty 
and  almost  naked  inhabitants,  of  whom  I  bought  fish  and  wild  rice, 
winch  latter  they  had  in  great  abundance.  When  populous,  this  vil- 
lage used  to  be  troublesome  to  the  traders,  obstructing  their  voyages, 
and  extorting  liquor  and  other  articles. 

We  now  entered  Lake  a  la  Pluie,  which  is  fifteen  leagues  long,  by 
five  broad.  *  *  * 

The  River  a  la  Pluie  is  forty  leagues  long,  of  a  gentle  current. 
*  *  *There  were  perfect  solitudes,  not  even  a  canoe  presenting  it- 
self, along  my  whole  navigation  of  the  stream.  I  was  greatly  struck 
with  the  beauty  of  the  scene,  as  well  as  with  its  fitness  for  agricul- 
tural settlements,  in  which  provisions  might  be  raised  for  the  north- 
west. 

On  the  thirtieth,  we  reached  the  Lake  of  the  Woods,  or  Lake  des 
lies,  at  the  entrance  of  which  was  an  Indian  village,  of  a  hundred 
souls.  *  *  * 

From  this  village  we  received  ceremonious  presents.  The  mode  with 
the  Indians  is,  first  to  collect  all  the  provisions  they  can  spare,  and 
place  them  in  a  heap;  after  which  they  send  for  the  trader,  and  ad- 
dress him  in  a  formal  speech.  They  tell  him  that  the  Indians  are 
happy  in  seeing  him  return  to  their  country;  that  they  have  been  long 
in  expectation  of  his  arrival;  that  their  wives  have  deprived  them- 
selves of  their  provisions,  in  order  to  afford  him  a  supply;  that  they 
are  in  great  want,  being  destitute  of  every  thing,  and  particularly  of 
ammunition  and  clothing;  and  that  what  they  most  long  for  is  a 
taste  of  his  rum.  which  they  uniformly  denominate  milk. 

The  presents,  in  return,  consisted  in  one  keg  of  gunpowder,  of 
sixty  pounds  weight;  a  bag  of  shot,  and  another  of  powder,  of  eighty 
pounds  each;  a  few  smaller  articles,  and  a  keg  of  rum.  The  last  ap- 
peared to  be  the  chief  treasure,  though  on  the  former  depended  the 
greater  part  of  their  winter's  subsistence. 


304  MINNESOTA    IN   THREE    CENT  TIMES. 

In  a  short  time,  the  men  began  to  drink,  while  the  women  brought 
me  a  further  ;uul  very  valuable  present,  of  twenty  bags  of  rice.  This 
I  returned  with  goods  and  rum,  and  at  the  same  time  offered  more,  for 
an  additional  supply  of  rice.  A  trade  was  opened,  the  women  barter- 
ing rice,  while  the  men  were  drinking.  Before  morning,  I  had  purchased 
a  hundred  bags,  of  nearly  a  bushel  measure  each.  Without  a  large 
quantity  of  rice,  the  voyage  could  not  have  been  prosecuted  to  its 
completion.  *  *  * 

The  Lake  of  the  Woods  is  thirty-six  leagues  long.  On  the  west 
side  is  an  old  French  fort  or  trading-house,  formerly  frequented  by 
numerous  bands  of  Chipeways,  but  these  have  since  been  almost  en- 
tirely destroyed  by  the  Nadowessies.  *  *  * 

On  the  sixteenth  [of  August]  we  reached  Lake  Winipegon,  at  the 
t-iit ranee  of  which  is  a  large  village  of  Christinaux. 


*     *     * 


MACKENZIE'S  DESCRIPTION  OF  THIS  ROUTE. 

Sir  Alexander  Mackenzie  in  his  "General  History  of  the 
Fur  Trade  from  Canada  to  the  Northwest"  (forming  a  part  of 
his  "Voyages  from  Montreal  *  *  *  in  the  years  1789  and 
1793"),  after  a  description  of  the  canoe  route  from  Lachine,  near 
Montreal,  by  way  of  the  Ottawa,  Mattawa  and  French  rivers,  and 
through  Lakes  Huron  and  Superior  to  the  Grand  Portage, 
wrote  of  the  fur  trade  there  and  of  the  partly  laborious  and  dif- 
ficult route  thence  upon  our  northern  boundary,  as  follows: 

At  length  they  all  arrive  at  the  Grande  Portage,  which  is  one  hund- 
red and  sixty  leagues  from  St.  Mary's,  and  situated  on  a  pleasant  bay 
on  the  north  side  of  the  lake,  in  latitude  48.  North  and  longitude  90. 
West  from  Greenwich.  *  *  * 

At  the  entrance  of  the  bay  is  an  island  which  screens  the  harbour 
from  every  wind  except  the  South.  *  *  *  The  bottom  of  the  bay, 
which  forms  an  amphitheatre,  is  clear  and  inclosed;  and  on  the  left 
corner  of  it.  beneath  an  hill,  three  or  four  hundred  feet  in  height,  and 
crowned  by  others  of  a  still  greater  altitude,  is  the  fort,  picketed  in 
witli  cedar  pallisadoes,  and  inclosing  houses  built  with  wood  and  cov- 
ered with  shingles.  They  are  calculated  for  every  convenience  of  trade 
a>  well  as  to  accommodate  the  proprietors  and  clerks  during  their  short 
re-idcnce  there.  The  North  men  live  under  tents;  but  the  more  frugal 
pork -eater  lodges  beneath  his  canoe.  *  *  » 

When  they  are  arrived  at  the  Grande  Portage,  which  is  near  nine 
mile*  over,  each  of  them  has  to  carry  eight  packages  of  such  goods  and 
provisions  as  are  necessary  for  the  interior  country.  *  *  * 


MACKENZIE,  THE  HENRYS,  AND  THOMPSON.  305 

Having  finished  this  toilsome  part  of  their  duty,  if  more  goods 
are  necessary  to  be  transported,  they  are  allowed  a  Spanish  dollar  for 
each  package;  and  so  inured  are  they  to  this  kind  of  labour,  that  I 
have  known  some  of  them  set  off  with  two  packages  of  ninety  pounds 
each,  and  return  with  two  others  of  the  same  weight,  in  the  course  of 
six  hours,  being  a  distance  of  eighteen  miles  over  hills  and  mountains. 
This  necessary  part  of  the  business  being  over,  if  the  season  be  early 
they  have  some  respite,  but  this  depends  upon  the  time  the  North  men 
begin  to  arrive  from  their  winter  quarters,  which  they  commonly  do 
early  in  July.  At  this  period,  it  is  necessary  to  select  from  the  pork- 
eaters  a  number  of  men,  among  whom  are  the  recruits,  or  winterers, 
sufficient  to  man  the  North  canoes  necessary  to  carry,  to  the  river  of 
the  Rainy  lake,  the  goods  and  provisions  requisite  for  the  Athabasca 
country;  as  the  people  of  that  country  (owing  to  the  shortness  of  the 
season  and  length  of  the  road  [they]  can  come  no  further)  are  equipped 
there,  and  exchange  ladings  with  the  people  of  whom  we  are  speaking, 
and  both  return  from  whence  they  came.  *  *  * 

The  North  men,  being  arrived  at  the  Grande  Portage,  are  regaled 
with  bread,  pork,  butter,  liquor,  and  tobacco,  and  such  as  have  not 
entered  into  agreements  during  the  winter,  which  is  customary,  are  con- 
tracted with,  to  return  and  perform  the  voyage  for  one,  two,  or  three 
years;  their  accounts  are  also  settled,  and  such  as  choose  to  send  any 
of  their  earnings  to  Canada,  receive  drafts  to  transmit  to  their  relations 
or  friends;  and  as  soon  as  they  can  be  got  ready,  which  requires  no 
more  than  a  fortnight,  they  are  again  dispatched  to  their  respective  de- 
partments. *  *  * 

The  people  being  dispatched  to  their  respective  quarters,  the  agents 
from  Montreal,  assisted  by  their  clerks,  prepare  to  return  there,  by 
getting  the  furs  across  the  portage,  and  re-making  them  into  packages 
of  one  hundred  pounds  weight  each,  to .  send  them  to  Montreal,  where 
they  commonly  arrive  about  the  month  of  September. 

The  mode  of  living  at  the  Grande  Portage  is  as  follows:  The  pro- 
prietors, clerks,  guides,  and  interpreters,  mess  together,  to  the  number 
of  sometimes  an  hundred,  at  several  tables,  in  one  large  hall,  the  pro- 
vision consisting  of  bread,  salt  pork,  beef,  hams,  fish,  and  venison,  butter, 
peas,  Indian  corn,  potatoes,  tea,  spirits,  wine,  &c.,  and  plenty  of  milk, 
for  which  purpose  several  milch  cows  are  constantly  kept.  The  mechan- 
ics have  rations  of  such  provision,  but  the  canoe-men,  both  from  the 
North  and  Montreal,  have  no  other  allowance  here,  or  in  the  voyage, 
than  Indian  corn  and  melted  fat.  The  corn  for  this  purpose  is  prepared 
before  it  leaves  Detroit,  by  boiling  it  in  a  strong  alkali,  which  takes 
off  the  outer  husk;  it  is  then  well  washed,  and  carefully  dried  upon 
stages,  when  it  is  fit  for  use.  One  quart  of  this  is  boiled  for  two 
hours,  over  a  moderate  fire,  in  a  gallon  of  water;  to  which,  when  it 

I.-18 


306  MINNESOTA   IX   THEEE    CENTURIES. 

has  boiled  a  small  time,  are  added  two  ounces  of  melted  suet;  ihi- 
causes  the  corn  to  split,  and  in  the  time  mentioned  makes  a  pretty 
thick  pudding.  If  to  this  is  added  a  little  salt  (but  not  before  it  is 
boiled,  as  it  would  interrupt  the  operation),  it  makes  an  wholesome, 
palatable  food,  and  easy  of  digestion.  This  quantity  is  fully  sufficient 
for  a  man's  subsistence  during  twenty-four  hours.  *  *  *  The  Am- 
ericans call  this  dish  hominee. 

The  trade  from  the  Grande  Portage  is,  in  some  particulars,  carried 
on  in  a  different  manner  with  that  from  Montreal.  The  canoes  used 
iii  the  latter  transport  are  now  too  large  for  the  former,  and  some  of 
about  half  the  size  are  procured  from  the  natives,  and  are  navigated  by 
four,  five,  or  six  men,  according  to  the  distance  which  they  have  to  go. 
They  carry  a  lading  of  about  thirty-five  packages,  on  an  average;  of 
these  twenty-three  are  for  the  purpose  of  trade,  and  the  rest  are  em- 
ployed for  provisions,  stores,  and  baggage.  In  each  of  these  canoes 
are  a  foreman  and  steersman;  the  one  to  be  always  on  the  look  out, 
and  direct  the  passage  of  the  vessel,  and  the  other  to  attend  the  helm. 
They  also  carry  her,  whenever  that  office  is  necessary.  The  foreman 
has  the  command,  and  the  middle-men  obey  both;  the  latter  earn 
only  two-thirds  of  the  wages  which  are  paid  the  two  former.  Inde- 
pendent of  these  a  conductor  or  pilot  is  appointed  to  every  four  or 
six  of  these  canoes,  whom  they  are  all  obliged  to  obey;  and  is,  or  at 
least  is  intended  to  be,  a  person  of  superior  experience,  for  which  he  is 
proportionably  paid. 

In  these  canoes,  thus  loaded,  they  embark  at  the  North  side  of 
the  portage,  on  the  river  Au  Tourt  [Pigeon  river],  which  is  very  in- 
considerable; and  after  about  two  miles  of  a  Westerly  course,  is  ob- 
structed by  the  Partridge  Portage,  six  hundred  paces  long.  In  the 
spring  this  makes  a  considerable  fall,  when  the  water  is  high,  over  a 
perpendicular  rock  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  feet.  From  thence  the 
river  continues  to  be  shallow,  and  requires  great  care  to  prevent  the 
bottom  of  the  canoe  from  being  injured  by  sharp  rocks,  for  a  distance 
of  three  miles  and  an  half  to  the  Prairie  or  Meadow,  when  half  the 
hiding  is  taken  out  and  carried  by  part  of  the  crew,  while  two  of 
them  are  conducting  the  canoe  among  the  rocks,  with  the  remainder,  to 
the  Carreboenf  Portage,  three  miles  and  an  half  more,  when  they  un- 
load and  come  back  two  miles,  and  embark  what  was  left  for  the  other 
hands  to  carry,  which  they  also  land  with  the  former;  all  of  which 
is  carried  six  hundred  and  eighty  paces,  and  the  canoe  led  up  against 
the  rapid. 

From  hence  the  water  is  better  calculated  to  carry  canoes,  and  leads 
by  a  winding  course  to  the  North  of  West  three  miles  to  the  Outard 
Portage,  over  which  the  canoe,  and  every  thing  in  her,  is  carried  for 
two  thousand  four  hundred  paces.  At  the  further  end  is  a  very 
high  hill  to  descend,  over  which  hangs  a  rock  upwards  of  seven  hundred 


MACKENZIE,    THE    HENRYS,    AND    THOMPSON.  307 

feet  high.  Then  succeeds  the  Outard  Lake  [South  Fowl  and  North 
Fowl  lakes],  about  six  miles  long,  lying  in  a  North-West  course,  and 
about  two  miles  wide  in  the  broadest  part.  After  passing  a  very  small 
rivulet,  they  come  to  the  Elk  Portage,  over  which  the  canoe  and  lading 
are  again  carried  one  thousand  one  hundred  and  twenty  paces;  when 
they  enter  the  lake  of  the  same  name  [now  called  Moose  lake],  which 
is  an  handsome  piece  of  water,  running  North-West  about  four  miles, 
and  not  more  than  one  mile  and  an  half  wide.  Here  is  a  most  ex- 
cellent fishery  for  white  fish,  which  are  exquisite.  They  then  land  at 
the  Portage  de  Cerise  [Cherry],  over  which,  and  in  the  face  of  a  con- 
siderable hill,  the  canoe  and  cargo  are  again  transported  for  one 
thousand  and  fifty  paces.  This  is  only  separated  from  the  second 
Portage  de  Cerise  by  a  mud  pond  (where  there  is  plenty  of  water 
lilies),  of  a  quarter  of  a  mile  in  length;  and  this  is  again  separated  by 
a  similar  pond  from  the  last  Portage  de  Cerise,  which  is  four  hundred 
and  ten  paces.  Here  the  same  operation  is  to  be  performed  for  three 
hundred  and  eighty  paces. 

They  next  enter  on  the  Mountain  Lake,  running  North-West  by 
West,  six  miles  long,  and  about  two  miles  in  its  greatest  breadth.  In 
the  centre  of  this  lake,  and  to  the  right,  is  the  Old  Road,  by  which  I 
never  passed;  but  an  adequate  notion  may  be  formed  of  it  from  the 
road  I  am  going  to  describe,  and  which  is  universally  preferred.  This 
is  first,  the  small  new  portage  over  which  every  thing  is  carried  for 
six  hundred  and  twenty-six  paces,  over  hills  and  gullies;  the  whole  is 
then  embarked  on  a  narrow  line  of  water  [Rove  lake],  that  meanders 
South-West  about  two  miles  and  an  half.  It  is  necessary  to  unload 
here,  for  the  length  of  the  canoe,  and  then  proceed  West  half  a  mile 
to  the  new  Grande  Portage,  which  is  three  thousand  one  hundred  paces 
in  length,  and  over  very  rough  ground,  which  requires  the  utmost  ex- 
ertions of  the  men,  and  frequently  lames  them;  from  hence  they  ap- 
proach the  Rose  Lake,  the  portage  of  that  name  being  opposite  to  the 
junction  of  the  road  from  the  Mountain  Lake.  They  then  embark  on 
the  Rose  Lake,  about  one  mile  from  the  East  end  of  it,  and  steer  West 
by  South,  in  an  oblique  course,  across  it  two  miles;  then  West  North- 
West  passing  the  Petite  Perche  to  the  Marten  Portage,  three  miles.  * 

Over  against  this  is  a  very  high,  rocky  ridge,  on  the  South  side, 
called  Marten  Portage,  which  is  but  twenty  paces  long,  and  separated 
from  the  Perche  Portage,  which  is  four  hundred  and  eighty  paces,  by  a 
mud  pond  covered  with  white  lilies.  From  hence  the  course  is  on  the 
lake  of  the  same  name  [now  South  lake],  West-South -West  three  miles 
to  the  height  of  land,  where  the  waters  of  the  Dove  or  Pigeon  River 
terminate,  and  which  is  one  of  the  sources  of  the  great  St.  Laurence  in 
this  direction.  Having  carried  the  canoe  and  lading  over  it,  six  hund- 
red and  seventy-nine  paces,  they  embark  on  the  lake  of  Hauteur  de 
Terre  [now  North  lake],  which  is  in  the  shape  of  an  horse -shoe.  (The  route 


308  MINNESOTA   IN   THKEE   CENTURIES. 

which  we  have  been  travelling  hitherto  leads  along  the  high  rocky 
huid  or  bank  of  Lake  Superior  on  the  left.  The  face  of  the  country 
offers  a  wild  scene  of  huge  hills  and  rocks,  separated  by  stony  valleys, 
hikes,  and  ponds.  Wherever  there  is  the  least  soil,  it  is  well  covered 
with  trees.)  The  lake  is  entered  near  the  curve,  and  left  at  the  extrem- 
ity of  the  Western  limb,  through  a  very  shallow  channel,  where  the 
canoe  passes  half  loaded  for  thirty  paces  with  the  current,  which  leads 
through  the  succeeding  lakes  and  rivers,  and  disembogues  itself,  by  the 
river  Nelson,  into  Hudson's-Bay.  The  first  of  these  is  Lac  de  pierres  a 
fusil  [Gunflint  lake],  running  West-South-West,  seven  miles  long  and 
two  wide,  and,  making  an  angle  at  North-West  one  mile  more,  becomes 
a  river  for  half  a  mile,  tumbling  over  a  rock  and  forming  a  fall  and 
portage,  called  the  Escalier  [Stairs],  of  fifty-five  paces;  but  from  hence 
it  is  neither  lake  or  river,  but  possesses  the  character  of  both,  and 
ends  between  large  rocks,  which  cause  a  current  or  rapid,  falling  into 
a  lake-pond  for  about  two  miles  and  an  half,  West-North-West,  to  the 
portage  of  the  Cheval  du  Bois.  Here  the  canoe  and  contents  are  car- 
ried three  hundred  and  eighty  paces,  between  rocks;  and  within  a  quar- 
ter of  a  mile  is  the  Portage  des  Gros  Pins,  which  is  six  hundred  and 
forty  paces  over  an  high  ridge.  The  opposite  side  of  it  is  washed  by  a 
-mall  lake  three  miles  round;  and  the  course  is  through  the  East  end 
or  side  of  it,  three  quarters  of  a  mile  North-East,  where  there  is  a 
rapid.  An  irregular,  meandering  channel,  between  rocky  banks,  then 
succeeds  for  seven  miles  and  an  half  to  the  Maraboeuf  Lake,  which 
extends  North  four  miles,  and  is  three  quarters  of  a  mile  wide,  ter- 
minating by  a  rapid  and  decharge,  of  one  hundred  and  eighty  paces, 
the  rock  of  Saginaga  being  in  sight,  which  causes  a  fall  of  about 
seven  feet,  and  a  portage  of  fifty-five  paces. 

Lake  Saginaga  takes  its  name  from  its  numerous  Islands.  Its 
greatest  length  from  East  to  West  is  about  fourteen  miles,  with  very 
irregular  inlets.  It  is  nowhere  more  than  three  miles  wide,  and  ter- 
minates at  the  small  portage  of  La  Roche,  of  forty-three  paces.  From 
thfiif-e  is  a  rocky,  stony  passage  of  one  mile,  to  Prairie  Portage,  which 
is  very  improperly  named,  as  there  is  no  ground  about  it  that  answers 
to  that  description,  except  a  small  spot  at  the  embarking  place  at  the 
West  end:  to  the  East  is  an  entire  bog;  and  it  i>  \\itli  great  difficulty 
that  the  lading  can  be  landed  upon  stages,  formed  by  driving  piles 
into  the  mud  and  spreading  branches  of  trees  over  them.  The  portage 
ri-»-<  on  a  stony  ridge,  over  which  the  canoe  and  cargo  must  be  carried 
for  six  hundred  and  eleven  paces.  This  is  succeeded  by  an  embarkation 
on  a  small  bay.  where  the  bottom  is  the  same  as  has  been  described 
in  the  West  end  of  Rose  Lake,  and  it  is  with  great  dilliculty  that  a 
laden  canoe  is  worked  over  it,  but  it  does  not  comprehend  more  than 
a  distance  of  two  hundred  yards.  From  hence  the  progress  continues 
through  irrejrular  channels  [of  Otter  Track  lake],  bounded  by  rocks, 


MACKENZIE,    THE    HENRYS,    AND    THOMPSON.  309 

in  a  Westerly  course  for  about  five  miles,  to  the  little  Portage  des 
Couteaux,  of  one  hundred  and  sixty-five  paces,  and  the  Lac  des  Cou- 
teaux  [Knife  lake],  running  about  South-West  by  West  twelve  miles, 
and  from  a  quarter  to  two  miles  wide.  A  deep  bay  runs  East  three 
miles  from  the  West  end,  where  it  is  discharged  by  a  rapid  river,  and 
after  running  two  miles  West  it  again  becomes  still  water.  In  this 
river  are  two  carrying  places,  the  one  fifteen,  and  the  other  one  hun- 
dred and  ninety  paces.  From  this  to  the  Portage  des  Carpes  is  one 
mile  North-West,  leaving  a  narrow  lake  on  the  East  that  runs  parallel 
with  the  Lake  des  Couteaux,  half  its  length,  where  there  is  a  carrying 
place,  which  is  used  when  the  water  in  the  river  last  mentioned  is  too 
low.  The  Portage  des  Carpes  is  three  hundred  and  ninety  paces,  from 
whence  the  water  [of  Sucker  lake]  spreads  irregularly  between  rocks, 
five  miles  North-West  and  South-East  to  the  portage  of  Lac  Bois 
Blanc,  which  is  one  hundred  and  eighty  paces.  Then  follows  the  lake 
of  that  name  [Basswood  lake],  but  I  think  improperly  so  called,  as 
the  natives  name  it  the  Lake  Pascau  Minac  Sagaigan,  or  Dry  Berries. 

Before  the  small  pox  ravaged  this  country,  and  completed  what 
the  Nodowasis  in  their  warfare  had  gone  far  to  accomplish,  the  de- 
struction of  its  inhabitants,  the  population  was  very  numerous;  this 
was  also  a  favorite  port,  where  they  made  their  canoes,  &c.,  the  lake 
abounding  in  fish,  the  country  round  it  being  plentifully  supplied  with 
various  kinds  of  game,  and  the  rocky  ridges,  that  form  the  boundaries 
of  the  water,  covered  with  a  variety  of  berries. 

When  the  French  were  in  possession  of  this  country,  they  had  sev- 
eral trading  establishments  on  the  islands  and  banks  of  this  lake. 
Since  that  period,  the  few  people  remaining,  who  were  of  the  Algon- 
quin nation,  could  hardly  find  subsistence;  game  having  become  so 
scarce  that  they  depended  principally  for  food  upon  fish,  and  wild  ric« 
which  grows  spontaneously  in  these  parts. 

This  lake  is  irregular  in  its  form,  and  its  utmost  extent  from 
East  to  West  is  fifteen  miles;  a  point  of  land,  called  Point  au  Pin, 
jutting  into  it,  divides  it  in  two  parts:  it  then  makes  a  second  angle 
at  the  West  end,  to  the  lesser  Portage  de  Bois  Blanc,  two  hundred 
paces  in  length.  This  channel  is  not  wide,  and  is  intercepted  by  several 
rapids  in  the  course  of  a  mile;  it  runs  West-North-West  to  the  Portage 
des  Pins,  over  which  the  canoe  and  lading  is  again  carried  four  hundred 
paces.  From  hence  the  channel  is  also  intercepted  by  very  dangerous 
rapids  for  two  miles  Westerly,  to  the  point  of  Portage  du  Bois,  which 
is  two  hundred  and  eighty  paces.  Then  succeeds  the  portage  of  Lake 
Croche  one  mile  more,  where  the  carrying  place  is  eighty  paces,  and  ie 
followed  by  an  embarkation  on  that  lake  [Crooked  lake],  which  takes 
its  name  from  its  figure.  It  extends  eighteen  miles,  in  a  meandering 
form,  and  in  a  westerly  direction;  it  is  in  general  very  narrow,  and  at 


310  MINNESOTA  IN   THREE    CENTURIES. 

about  two-thirds  of  its  length  becomes  very  contracted,  with  a  strong 
current. 

Within  three  miles  of  the  last  portage  is  a  remarkable  rock,  with 
a  smooth  face,  but  split  and  cracked  in  different  parts,  which  hang 
over  the  water.  Into  one  of  its  horizontal  chasms  a  great  number  of 
arrows  have  been  shot,  which  is  said  to  have  been  done  by  a  party  of 
the  Nodowasis  or  Sieux,  who  had  done  much  mischief  in  this  country, 
and  left  these  weapons  as  a  warning  to  the  Chebois  or  natives,  that, 
notwithstanding  its  lakes,  rivers,  and  rocks,  it  was  not  inaccessible  to 
their  enemies. 

Lake  Croche  is  terminated  by  the  Portage  de  Rideau  [Curtain], 
four  hundred  paces  long,  and  derives  its  name  from  the  appearance  cf 
the  water,  falling  over  a  rock  of  upwards  of  thirty  feet.  Several  rapids 
succeed,  with  intervals  of  still  water,  for  about  three  miles  to  the 
Flacon  portage,  which  is  very  difficult,  is  four  hundred  paces  long,  and 
leads  to  the  Lake  of  La  Croix  [Cross],  so  named  from  its  shape.  It 
runs  about  North-West  eighteen  miles  to  the  Beaver  Dam,  and  then 
sinks  into  «,  deep  bay  nearly  East.  The  course  to  the  portage  is  West 
by  North  for  sixteen  miles  more  from  the  Beaver  Dam;  and  into  the 
East  bay  is  a  road  which  was  frequented  by  the  French,  and  followed 
through  lakes  and  rivers  until  they  came  to  Lake  Superior  by  the  river 
Caministiquia,  thirty  miles  East  of  the  Grand  Portage.  [Major  Long 
took  that  route  in  1823.] 

Portage  la  Croix  is  six  hundred  paces  long:  to  the  next  portage 
is  a  quarter  of  a  mile,  and  its  length  is  forty  paces;  the  river  winding 
four  miles  to  Vermillion  Lake,  which  runs  six  or  seven  miles  North  - 
North-West,  and  by  a  narrow  strait  communicates  with  Lake  Namaycan 
[Sturgeon],  which  takes  its  name  from  a  particular  place  at  the  foot 
of  a  fall,  where  the  natives  spear  sturgeon.  Its  course  is  about  North- 
North-West  and  South-South-East,  with  a  bay  running  East,  that  gives 
it  the  form  of  a  triangle;  its  length  is  about  sixteen  miles  to  the 
Nouvelle  Portage.  The  discharge  of  the  lake  is  from  a  bay  on  the  left, 
and  the  portage  one  hundred  and  eighty  paces,  to  which  succeeds  a 
very  small  river,  from  whence  there  is  but  a  short  distance  to  the 
next  Nouvelle  Portage,  three  hundred  and  twenty  paces  long.  It  is 
there  necessary  to  embark  on  a  swamp,  or  overflowed  country,  where 
wild  rice  grows  in  great  abundance.  There  is  a  channel  or  small  river 
in  the  centre  of  this  swamp,  which  is  kept  with  difficulty,  and  runs 
South  and  North  one  mile  and  a  half,  with  deepening  water.  The 
course  continues  North-North-West  one  mile  to  the  Chaudiere  Portage, 
which  is  caused  by  the  discharge  of  the  waters  running  on  the  left  of 
the  road  from  Lake  Xaymaycan,  which  used  to  be  the  common  route, 
but  that  which  I  have  described  is  the  safest  as  well  as  shortest. 
From  hence  there  is  some  current  though  the  water  is  wide  spread,  and 
its  course  alnjut  North  bv  West  three  miles  and  an  half  to  the  La« 


MACKENZIE,  THE  HENRYS,  AND  THOMPSON.  311 

de  la  Pluie  [Rainy  lake],  which  lies  nearly  East  and  West;  from  thence 
about  fifteen  miles  is  a  narrow  strait  that  divides  the  land  into  two 
unequal  parts,  from  whence  to  its  discharge  is  a  distance  of  twenty- 
four  miles.  There  is  a  deep  bay  running  North-West  on  the  right, 
that  is  not  included,  and  is  remarkable  for  furnishing  the  natives  with 
a  kind  of  soft,  red  stone,  of  which  they  make  their  pipes;  it  also 
affords  an  excellent  fishery,  both  in  the  summer  and  winter;  and  from 
it  is  an  easy,  safe,  and  short  road  to  the  Lake  du  Bois  (which  I  shall 
mention  presently),  for  the  Indians  to  pass  in  their  sm;fil  canoes, 
through  a  small  lake  and  on  a  small  river,  whose  banks  furnish  abun- 
dance of  wild  rice.  The  discharge  of  this  lake  is  called  Lake  de  la 
Pluie  [Rainy]  River,  at  whose  entrance  there  is  a  rapid,  below  which 
is  a  fine  bay,  where  there  had  been  an  extensive  picketted  fort  and 
building  when  possessed  by  the  French;  the  site  of  it  is  at  present  a 
beautiful  meadow,  surrounded  with  groves  of  oaks.  From  hence  there 
is  a  strong  current  for  two  miles,  where  the  water  falls  over  a  rock 
twenty  feet  [Koochiching  falls],  and,  from  the  consequent  turbulence  of 
the  water,  the  carrying  place,  which  is  three  hundred  and  twenty  paces 
long,  derives  the  name  of  Chaudiere.  Two  miles  onward  is  the  present 
trading  establishment,  situated  on  an  high  bank  on  the  North  side 
of  the  river,  in  48  degrees,  thirty-seven  minutes,  North  latitude. 

Here  the  people  from  Montreal  come  to  meet  those  who  arrive  from 
the  Athabasca  country,  as  has  been  already  described,  and  exchange 
lading  with  them.  This  is  also  the  residence  of  the  first  chief,  or 
Sachem,  of  all  the  Algonquin  tribes  inhabiting  the  different  parts  of 
this  country.  He  is  by  distinction  called  Nectam,  which  implies  per- 
sonal pre-eminence.  Here  also  the  elders  meet  in  council  to  treat  of 
peace  or  war. 

This  is  one  of  the  finest  rivers  in  the  North-West,  and  runs  a 
eourse  West  and  East  one  hundred  and  twenty  computed  miles;  but 
in  taking  its  course  and  distance  minutely  I  make  it  only  eighty.  Its 
banks  are  covered  with  a  rich  soil,  particularly  to  the  North,  which, 
in  many  parts,  are  clothed  with  fine  open  groves  of  oak,  with  the  maple, 
the  pine,  and  the  cedar.  The  Southern  bank  is  not  so  elevated,  and 
displays  the  maple,  the  white  birch,  and  the  cedar,  with  the  spruce,  the 
alder,  and  various  underwood.  Its  waters  abound  in  fish,  particularly 
the  sturgeon,  which  the  natives  both  spear  and  take  with  drag-nets. 
But  notwithstanding  the  promise  of  this  soil,  the  Indians  do  not  attend 
to  its  cultivation,  though  they  are  not  ignorant  of  the  common  process, 
and  are  fond  of  the  Indian  corn,  when  they  can  get  it  from  us.  *  *  * 

We  now  proceed  to  mention  the  Lake  du  Bois  [Lake  of  the  Woods], 
into  which  this  river  discharges  itself  in  latitude  49.  North,  and  was 
formerly  famous  for  the  richness  of  its  banks  and  waters,  which 
abounded  with  whatever  was  necessary  to  a  savage  life.  The  French 
had  several  settlements  in  and  about  it;  but  it  might  be  almost  con- 


312  MINNESOTA    IN    THREE    CENTURIES. 

eluded  that,  some  fatal  circumstance  had  destroyed  the  game,  as  war 
and  the  small  pox  had  diminished  the  inhabitants,  it  having  been  very 
unproductive  in  animals  since  the  British  subjects  have  been  engaged  in 
travelling  through  it;  though  it  now  appears  to  be  recovering  its  pristine 
state.  The  few  Indians  who  inhabit  it  might  live  very  comfortably,  if 
they  were  not  so  immoderately  fond  of  spirituous  liquors. 

*  *  *  The  Lake  du  Bois  is,  as  far  as  I  could  learn,  nearly  round, 
and  the  canoe  course  through  the  centre  of  it  among  a  cluster  of  islands, 
some  of  which  are  so  extensive  that  they  may  be  taken  for  the  main 
land.  The  reduced  course  would  be  nearly  South  and  North.  But  fol- 
lowing the  navigating  course,  I  make  the  distance  seventy-five  miles, 
though  in  a  direct  line  it  would  fall  very  short  of  that  length.  At  about 
two-thirds  of  it  there  is  a  small  carrying  place,  when  the  water  is  low. 
The  carrying  place  out  of  the  lake  is  on  an  island,  and  named  Portage 
du  Rat,  in  latitude  49  degrees  37  minutes  North  and  longitude  94  de- 
grees 15  minutes  West,  and  is  about  fifty  paces  long.  The  lake  dis- 
charges itself  at  both  ends  of  this  island,  and  forms  the  River  Winipic, 
which  is  a  large  body  of  water,  interspersed  with  numerous  islands, 
causing  various  channels  and  interruptions  of  portages  and  rapids.  * 


ADOPTION  OF  THE  CANOE  ROUTE  AS  THE  INTERNA- 
TIONAL BOUNDARY. 

Because  the  route  so  carefully  and  elaborately  described  by 
Mackenzie  was  the  main  pathway  of  the  most  important  inland 
trade  and  commerce  of  both  Canada  and  the  United  States, 
it  was  chosen  to  be  the  dividing  line  between  these  countries. 
With  increasing  clearness  and  accuracy  of  definition,  this  line 
was  noted  by  successive  international  treaties  and  negotiations, 
in  1783,  1794,  1803,  1807,  1814,  1818,  and  1842.  Farther 
westward,  beyond  the  Lake  of  the  Woods,  the  49th  parallel 
was  made  the  boundary,  because  during  the  negotiations  for 
the  Treaty  of  Utrecht,  in  1713,  it  had  been  claimed  by  the  Hud- 
son Bay  Company  as  the  southern  limit  of  its  trade  and  juris- 
diction. These  reasons  for  the  establishment  of  the  national 
boundary  by  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States,  are  well 
presented  in  two  papers  published  in  Volume  VIII  of  the 
Minnesota  Historical  Society  Collections,  by  Ulysses  Sherman 
Grant  and  Alexander  N.  Winchell. 


MACKENZIE,    THE    HESKYS,    AXD    THOMPSON.  313 

In  the  Treaty  of  1783,  terminating  the  Revolutionary  War, 
the  boundary  was  denned  as  extending  along  "the  water  com- 
munication" between  Lake  Superior  and  the  Lake  of  the  Woods. 
It  remained  with  this  very  imperfect  description  nearly  sixty 
years,  although  at  various  times  under  discussion  of  commis- 
sioners, with  provisional  surveys,  until  the  Webster-Ashburton 
Treaty  in  1842  gave  it  more  definite  terms  by  naming  the 
Pigeon  river,  from  its  mouth,  and  the  principal  lakes  through 
which  the  line  extends. 

Besides  the  great  water  parting  between  the  St.  Law- 
rence and  Xelson  river  systems,  the  boundary  in  several  other 
places  passes  across  divides  of  minor  drainage  basins.  It  fol- 
lows the  old  route  of  the  fur  traders  and  voyageurs.  Because 
they  went  by  a  portage  over  a  little  drainage  divide  and  thence 
passed  westward  along  the  south  side  of  a  large  tract  called 
Hunter's  Island,  about  800  square  miles  in  area,  instead  of  fol- 
lowing the  continuous  water  course,  that  tract  belongs  to 
Canada. 


Chapter  XII. 

WILLIAM  MORRISON  AT  LAKE  ITASCA,  AND  OTHER 

TRADERS  WHOSE  NAMES  ARE  BORNE  BY 

MINNESOTA  COUNTIES. 

TEN"  names  of  counties  in  this  state,  among  its  total  list 
of  eighty-five  counties,  commemorate  pioneers  of  the 
fur  trade  with  the  Indians.  Many  others,  during  two 
hundred  years  from  the  first  coming  of  Groseilliers  and  Radisson, 
traversed  all  portions  of  this  state.  Before  the  earliest  agricul- 
tural settlements,  the  lone  log-house  trading  posts  of  these  fore- 
runners of  civilization  were  built  on  many  of  our  thousands  of 
beautiful  lakes  and  streams.  But  only  a  very  few  left  any 
diary  or  other  written  account  or  record.  The  most  remarkable 
of  them  all,  probably,  in  respect  to  keeping  a  journal  of  trans- 
actions and  experiences  in  the  frontier  fur  trade,  was  the 
younger  Alexander  Henry,  noticed  in  the  last  preceding  chapter. 
The  literature  of  exploration  and  development  of  Min- 
nesota, so  far  as  accomplished  in  the  interests  of  the  fur  trade, 
is  mainly  limited  to  the  four  authors  mentioned  in  the  title  of 
that  chapter;  but  many  of  these  traders,  like  William  Morri- 
son, who  in  the  winter  of  1803-04,  and  again  in  1811-12,  ex- 
amined Lake  Itasca  and  its  small  tributary  streams,  made  jour- 
neys and  discoveries  which  would  appear  of  great  significance  in 
the  history  of  our  state  if  we  had  narratives  of  their  lives  and 
work. 

315 


316  MINNESOTA   IN   THREE    CENTURIES. 

THE  MORRISON  BROTHERS. 

Morrison  county,  established  by  legislative  act  February 
25,  1856,  occupying  the  geographic  center  of  Minnesota,  was 
named  for  William  Morrison,  the  first  white  man  to  sec  the 
lake  forming  the  principal  source  of  the  Mississippi  (unless 
he  was  preceded  by  French  voyagcurs  of  whom  no  record  is 
preserved). 

William  Morrison  was  born  in  Montreal  in  1780,  and  came 
to  the  Northwest,  to  engage  in  the  fur  trade,  in  1802.  He  spent 
the  first  winter  on  one  of  the  head  streams  of  the  Crow  Wing 
river,  and  the  second  winter  at  Rice  lake,  northwest  of  Lake 
Itasca,  which  he  visited  in  that  winter  or  in  the  spring  of  1804. 
He  was  employed  at  first  for  Sir  Alexander  Mackenzie  and  the 
New  Northwest  or  XY  Company,  and  later  for  the  reorganized 
Northwest  company  until  1816;  and  during  the  next  ten  years 
for  the  American  Fur  Company,  under  John  Jacob  Astor.  In 
the  latter  service  he  established  a  series  of  trading  posts  on  or 
near  the  northern  boundary  of  Minnesota  from  Grand  Portage 
west  to  the  Lake  of  the  Woods.  In  1826  he  retired,  and  after- 
ward lived  in  Canada,  where  he  died  August  7,  1866. 

His  brother,  Allan  Morrison,  who  was  a  trader  at  Crow 
Wing,  transmitted  to  Governor  Ramsey  for  the  Minnesota  His- 
torical Society,  under  the  date  of  February  17,1856,  just  pre- 
ceding the  act  of  the  legislature  which  founded  Morrison  coun- 
ty, a  letter  from  William  Morrison,  narrating  his  work  in  the 
fur  trade  and  his  visits  to  the  source  of  our  great  river. 

Allan  Morrison,  whose  life  as  a  pioneer  of  Minnesota  may  al- 
so be  regarded  as  commemorated  in  the  name  of  this  county, 
was  born  in  Canada  about  the  year  1790;  came  to  Fond  du  Lac 
and  northern  Minnesota,  in  the  fur  trade,  associated  with  his 
brother  William,  in  1820;  had  charge  of  trading  posts  at  Sandy 
lake,  Leech  lake,  Red  lake,  Mille  Lacs,  and  Crow  Wing;  and 
finally  removed  with  the  Indians  to  the  White  Earth  Reservation, 
where  he  died  November  28.  1878.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
first  logiplaturo  of  Minnesota  Territory. 


WILLIAM  MORRISON  AND  OTHER  TRADERS.     317 

OTHER  TRADERS  HONORED  BY  COUNTY  NAMES. 

With  the  names  of  eminent  explorers,  as  Beltrami,  Carver, 
Caps,  Hennepin,  Le  Sueur,  Nicollet,  Pope,  and  Stevens,  borne 
by  counties  in  Minnesota,  the  following  ten  counties,  Aitkin, 
Brown,  Faribault,  Kittson,  McLeod,  Morrison  (as  already  noted), 
Olmsted,  Renville,  Rice,  and  Sibley,  are  named  in  honor  of 
men  who  came  here  primarily  as  fur  traders.  Each  of  these 
traders  doubtless  added  to  geographic  knowledge  of  parts  of  our 
area  which  they  traversed;  and  several  of  them  attained  to  high 
prominence  in  business,  commercial,  and  legislative  affairs.  It 
will  be  very  desirable,  therefore,  to  present  here  brief  biographic 
notes  of  these  fur  traders  who  are  honored  in  the  nomenclature 
of  Minnesota  counties. 

WILLIAM  A.  AITKIN. 

The  name  of  Aitkin  county,  established  May  23,  1857,  was 
at  first  commonly  spelled  Aiken,  with  which  it  is  identical  in 
pronunciation,  but  was  changed  to  the  present  spelling  by  an 
act  of  the  legislature,  in  1872.  This  county  was  named  for 
William  A.  Aitkin,  a  Scotch  trader  with  the  Ojibway  Indians 
at  Sandy  lake,  in  the  present  east  part  of  Aitkin  county,  who 
came  into  that  region  when  a  boy,  about  the  year  1802,  as  a 
servant  of  a  trader  named  John  Drew.  Aitkin  married  into 
an  influential  Indian  family:  was  soon  a  trader  on  his  own  ac- 
count; and  rapidly  advanced  until  in  1831  he  took  charge  of  the 
Fond  du  Lac  department  of  the  American  Fur  Company,  mak- 
ing his  headquarters  at  Sandy  lake.  He  died  in  the  autumn  of 
1851,  and  is  buried  on  the  bank  of  the  Mississippi  river,  near 
the  mouth  of  Swan  river,  in  the  north  edge  of  Aitkin  county. 

JOSEPH  R.  BROWN. 

Brown  county,  established  February  20,1855,  was  named  in 
honor  of  Joseph  Renshaw  Brown,  who  during  many  years  was  an 


318  MINNESOTA    IN    T11KK1S    CBNTUBIBS. 

Indian  trader,  was  one  of  the  founders  of  Minnesota  Territory, 
an  editor,  and  one  of  the  most  influential  members  in  the  terri- 
torial legislature  and  in  the  Democratic  branch  of  the  con- 
vention for  framing  the  state  constitution.  He  was  born  in 
Harford  county,  Maryland,  January  5,  1805;  and  died  in  New 
York  City,  November  9,  1870.  When  only  fourteen  years  old, 
in  1819,  he  came  to  the  area  of  Minnesota  as  a  drummer  boy 
with  the  troops  that  built  Fort  Snelling.  As  a  trader  and  a 
leader  in  public  affairs,  he  rendered  much  aid  for  the  consumma- 
tion of  the  treaties  of  Traverse  des  Sioux  and  Mendota  in  1851, 
and  opposed  the  Sioux  outbreak,  in  1862.  He  owned  and  pub- 
lished the  Minnesota  Pioneer,  and  later  the  Henderson  Democrat. 
He  was  secretary  of  the  Territorial  Council  in  1849-51,  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Council  in  1854-5,  and  of  the  House  in  1857. 

JEAN    B.    FARIBAULT. 

Faribault  county,  established  February  20,  1855,  was  named 
for  Jean  Baptiste  Faribault,  who  was  engaged  through  the 
greater  part  of  his  life  as  a  trader  among  the  Indians,  at  first 
for  the  Northwest  Fur  Company.  He  was  born  at  Berthier, 
Quebec,  Canada,  in  1774,  and  came  to  the  Northwest  in  1798. 
taking  charge  of  a  trading  post  on  the  Kankakee  river  near  the 
south  end  of  Lake  Michigan.  During  the  years  1799  to  1802 
he  was  stationed  at  the  Eedwood  trading  post,  situated  on  the 
Des  Moines  river,  "about  two  hundred  miles  above  its  mouth," 
being  in  what  is  now  the  central  part  of  Iowa.  Coming  to 
Minnesota  in  1803,  he  took  charge  of  a  post  at  Little  Rapids,  on 
the  Minnesota  river  a  few  miles  above  the  sites  of  Chaska  and 
Carver,  where  he  remained  several  years.  Afterward  he  was 
a  trader  on  his  own  account  at  Prairie  du  Chien,  Wisconsin, 
whence  he  removed  to  Pike  island,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Min- 
nesota river,  in  the  spring  of  1820,  having  been  promised  military 
protection  by  Colonel  Leavenworth,  under  whose  direction  Fort 
Snelling  was  then  being  built.  In  1826  Faribault  built  a  sub- 
stantial stone  house  for  his  family  at  Mendota,  where  he  spent 
most  of  the  remainder  of  his  life,  excepting  that  in  the  win- 


WILLIAM  MORRISON  AND  OTHER  TRADERS.     319 

ters  during  many  years  he  traded  with  the  Indians  at  Little 
Rapids.  He  died  August  20,  1860,  at  the  home  of  his  daughter 
in  Faribault,  Minn.,  a  city  founded,  at  first  as  a  Sioux  trading 
post,  by  his  eldest  son,  Alexander  Faribault,  for  whom  it  was 
named. 

An  appreciative  memoir  of  Jean  B.  Faribault,  by  General 
Sibley,  was  published  in  pages  168-179,  Volume  III,  Minnesota 
Historical  Society  Collections. 

NORMAN   W.   KITTSON. 

Kittson  county,  established  March  9,  1878,  forming  the 
northwest  corner  of  Minnesota,  had  been  previously  called  Pem- 
bina  county.  It  was  named  for  Norman  Wolfred  Kittson,  one 
of  the  leading  pioneers  of  this  state.  He  was  born  in  Sorel, 
Canada,  March  5,  1814;  came  to  Fort  Snelling  in  1834;  was 
engaged  in  the  fur  trade  with  the  Indians,  and  in  transportation 
business,  at  this  fort,  Pembina,  and  St.  Paul;  was  several  years 
a  member  of  the  Territorial  legislature,  representing  the  Pem- 
bina district;  was  mayor  of  St.  Paul  in  1858;  and  became  the 
director  of  steamboat  traffic  on  the  Red  river,  for  the  Hudson 
Bay  Company,  in  1864.  He  died  suddenly,  May  10,  1888,  on 
his  journey  of  return  to  Minnesota  from  the  east. 

MARTIN  McLEOD. 

McLeod  county,  established  March  1,  1856,  was  named  in 
honor  of  Martin  McLeod.  who  was  born  in  Montreal  August  30, 
1813,  of  Scotch  parentage,  and  there  received  a  liberal  educa- 
tion. In  1836  be  came  to  the  Northwest,  voyaging  in  an  open 
boat  on  Lake  Superior  from  its  mouth  to  La  Pointe,  Wisconsin, 
and  thence  walking  more  than  six  hundred  miles  to  the  Pembina 
settlement  on  the  Red  River,  where  he  arrived  in  December. 
The  next  March,  having  set  out  with  two  companions,  young  Bri- 
tish officers,  and  Pierre  Bottineau  as  guide,  he  came  to  the 
trading  house  of  Joseph  R.  Brown  at  Lake  Traverse,  arriving 
March  21,  after  a  journey  of  nineteen  days  and  a  most  perilous 


320  MI  \.\ESOT A    IN    THREE    CE.VIT  III  ES. 

experience  of  hunger  and  cold  due  to  successive  blizzards,  by  one 
of  which  the  two  officers  perished.  Coming  forward  to  Fort 
Snelling  in  April,  1837,  he  was  afterward  during-  many  years 
engaged  as  a  fur  trader  for  Chouteau  and  Company,  under  the 
direction  of  General  Sibley,  being  in  charge  of  trading  posts 
successively  on  the  St.  Croix  river,  at  Traverse  des  Sioux,  Big 
Stone  lake,  Lac  qui  Parle,  and  Yellow  Medicine. 

MeLeod  was  a  member  of  the  Council  in  the  Territorial 
legislature  for  the  years  1849  to  1853,  being  president  of  the 
Council  in  1853.  He  died  November  20,  1860,  on  his  farm  to 
which  he  had  removed  his  family  in  1849,  at  Oak  Grove,  in 
Bloomington,  Hennepin  county.  He  was  one  of  the  charter  mem- 
bers, in  1849.  of  the  Minnesota  Historical  Society. 

DAVID   OLMSTED. 

Olmsted  county,  established  February  .^o.  1,s.V>.  was  named 
for  Hon.  David  Olmsted,  who  during  the  previous  year  1854 
had  been  the  first  mayor  of  St.  Paul.  He  was  -born  in  Fairfax, 
Vt..  May  •">.  18?-?:  came  to  the  Northwest,  first  to  the  Wisconsin 
lead  mining  region,  in  1838;  was  a  pioneer  settler  of  Monona, 
Iowa,  in  1840;  engaged  in  trading  with  the  Indians  at  Fort 
Atkinson,  Iowa,  in  1844;  was  a  member  of  the  convention  which 
framed  the  state  constitution  of  Iowa  in  1846;  came  in  184S 
to  Loiiu;  1'rairie.  Minnesota,  when  the  Winnebago  Indians  w.-ro 
transferred  there,  and  established  a  trading  post,  which  he  con- 
tinued several  years.  He  was  a  charter  member  of  the  Minne- 
sota Historical  Society,  and  a  member  of  the  Council  in  the  first 
Territorial  Legislature,  1849  and  1850,  being  its  first  president. 

In  1853,  having  removed  to  St.  Paul,  Olmsted  became  pro- 
prietor and  editor  of  the  Minnesota  Democrat,  which  under  his 
management  began  its  issue  as  a  daily  newspaper  in  May,  1834. 
After  his  term  of  one  year  as  mayor  of  the  new  city,  he  removed 
in  1855  to  Winona.  where  ill  health  compelled  him,  in  1857.  to 
give  up  business,  and  he  then  returned  to  his  old  home  in  Ver- 
mont, where  he  died  February  2,  1861. 


WILLIAM  MORRISON  AND  OTHER  TRADERS.     321 


JOSEPH  RENVILLE. 

Renville  county,  established  February  20,  1855,  was  named 
for  Joseph  Renville,  a  half-breed  (the  son  of  a  French  father 
and  Dakota  mother),  of  whom  Dr.  Neill  gave  a  very  interesting 
sketch  in  the  first  volume  of  the  Minnesota  Historical  Society 
Collections.  Renville  was  born  at  or  near  the  Kaposia  village 
of  the  Dakotas,  on  the  Mississippi  a  few  miles  below  St.  Paul, 
about  the  year  1779.  After  a  few  years  at  school  in  Canada,  he 
became  a  voyageur  for  an  English  company  in  the  fur  trade 
of  the  Northwest.  In  the  War  of  1812  he  received  the  appoint- 
ment and  rank  of  a  captain  in  the  British  army,  and  led  a  com- 
pany of  Dakota  (Sioux)  warriors  against  the  United  States  fron- 
tier. He  was  employed  by  Major  Long  as  the  interpreter  in  his 
expedition  to  the  Red  river  and  Lake  Winnipeg,  in  1823;  and 
Keating,  the  historian  of  that  expedition,  derived  from  him  a 
large  amount  of  information  relating  to  the  Dakotas.  After- 
ward, having  become  an  agent  of  the  American  Fur  company, 
Renville  erected  a  trading  house  at  Lac  qui  Parle,  and  resided 
there  until  his  death,  which  was  in  March,  1846. 

He  was  a  friend  of  Rev.  Thomas  S.  Williamson,  who  came  as 
a  missionary  to  the  Dakotas  of  the  Minnesota  valley  in  1835. 
"Renville  warmly  welcomed  him,"  wrote  Dr.  Neill,  "and  ren- 
dered invaluable  assistance  in  the  establishment  of  the  missions. 
Upon  the  arrival  of  the  missionaries  at  Lac  qui  Parle,  he  pro- 
vided them  with  a  temporary  home.  He  acted  as  interpreter, 
he  assisted  in  translating  the  Scriptures,  and  removed  many  of 
the  prejudices  of  the  Indians  against  the  white  man's  religion." 

HENRY  M.  BICE. 

Rice  county,  established  March  5,  1853,  was  named  for  Hon. 
Henry  Mower  Rice,  one  of  the  two  first  United  States  senators 
of  Minnesota,  1858  to  1863.  He  was  born  in  Waitsfield,  Vt, 
November  29,  1816 ;  came  west  to  Detroit,  in  1835,  and  four  years 
later  to  Fort  Snelling;  was  during  many  years  an  agent  of 

I.-19 


322  MINNESOTA   IN   THREE    CENTURIES. 

the  Chouteau  Fur  Company;  aided  in  the  negotiation  of  sev- 
eral Indian  treaties,  by  which  lands  were  ceded  for  white  im- 
migration in  Minnesota;  and  was  the  delegate  from  this  Terri- 
tory in  Congress,  1853  to  1857.  Excepting  when  absent  in 
Washington,  he  resided  in  St.  Paul  from  1849  onward,  and  was 
a  most  generous  benefactor  of  this  city.  To  Rice  county  he 
presented  a  valuable  political  and  historical  library.  Senator 
Rice  was  a  charter  member  of  the  Minnesota  Historical  Society, 
and  was  its  president  for  the  years  1864  to  1866.  He  died 
at  San  Antonio,  Texas,  while  spending  the  winter  months 
there,  January  15,  1894. 

HENRY   H.    SIBLEY. 

Sibley  county,  established  March  5,  1853,  was  named  in 
honor  of  Gen.  Henry  Hastings  Sibley,  pioneer  fur  merchant, 
governor,  and  military  defender  of  Minnesota.  He  was  born  in 
Detroit,  Mich.,  February  20,  1811;  went  to  Mackinaw,  entering 
the  service  of  the  American  Fur  Company,  in  1829;  came  to  what 
is  now  Minnesota  in  1834,  as  general  agent  in  the  Northwest 
for  that  company,  with  headquarters  at  Mendota  (then  called 
St.  Peter's),  where  he  lived  twenty-eight  years;  removed  to 
St.  Paul  in  1862,  and  resided  there  through  the  remainder  of 
his  life.  He  was  delegate  in  Congress,  representing  Minnesota 
Territory,  1849  to  1853;  was  the  first  governor  of  the  state, 
1858  to  1860;  and  during  the  Sioux  war,  in  1862,  led  in  the 
suppression  of  the  outbreak,  and  the  next  year  commanded  an 
expedition  against  these  Indians  in  North  Dakota.  He  was 
during  more  than  twenty  years  a  regent  of  the  State  University; 
was  a  charter  member  of  the  Minnesota  Historical  Society;  and 
was  its  president  in  1867,  and  from  1876  until  his  death,  Feb- 
ruary 18,  1891. 

MAGNITUDE  OF  THE  EARLY  FUR  TRADE. 

This  partial  list  of  prominent  fur  traders  within  the  area 
of  Minnesota  during  the  first  half  of  the  last  century,  and  the 


WILLIAM  MORRISON  AND  OTHER  TRADEKS.     323 

earlier  representatives  of  this  fur  trade  with  the  Indians, 
considered  in  preceding  chapters,  from  the  coming  of  the  first 
French  explorers  onward  to  Verendrye,  Mackenzie,  and  their 
associates  in  the  eighteenth  century,  well  exhibit  the  magnitude 
gradually  attained  and  long  held  hy  this  great  commercial  indus- 
try, and  its  importance  in  opening  the  former  wilderness  to 
general  white  immigration,  agriculture,  the  building  of  towns  and 
cities,  and  all  the  development  of  our  present  grand  common- 
wealth. 

So  early  as  the  time  of  Le  Sueur  on  the  Blue  Earth  river, 
in  1700-01,  only  forty-five  years  after  the  earliest  Europeans 
came  to  our  upper  Mississippi,  the  country  had  already  numer- 
ous wandering  and  adventurous  white  traders,  bartering  weapons 
and  trinkets  of  civilized  manufactures  for  the  prized  beaver  furs 
of  the  Indian  hunter. 

Two  thirds  of  a  century  later,  in  Carver's  time,  the  northern 
fur  trade  passing  along  the  route  of  the  Grand  Portage  had  at- 
tained the  dignity  of  a  great  traffic,  employing  much  capital, 
many  men  in  a  well  organized  business,  and  fleets  of  canoes. 

After  another  third  of  a  century,  in  1801,  Sir  Alexander 
Mackenzie  wrote  of  the  operations  of  the  Northwest  Fur  Com- 
pany: "In  1788,  the  gross  amount  of  the  adventure  for  the 
year  did  not  exceed  forty  thousand  pounds,  but  by  the  exertion, 
enterprise,  and  industry  of  the  proprietors,  it  was  brought  in 
eleven  years  to  triple  that  amount  and  upwards;  yielding  propor- 
tionate profits,  and  surpassing,  in  short,  any  thing  known  in 
America." 

In  the  year  1799  the  furs  and  peltries  brought  to  Montreal 
by  this  company,  mostly  coining  by  the  route  of  our  northern 
boundary  and  Grand  Portage,  comprised,  as  Mackenzie  states, 
106,000  beaver  skins,  these  being  far  the  most  important  and 
valuable  part  of  the  whole,  and  the  skins  of  other  animals  as 
follows:  of  the  bear,  2,100;  fox,  1,500;  kitt  fox,  4,000;  otter, 
4,600;  muskrat,  17,000;  marten,  32,000;  mink,  1,800;  lynx, 
6,000;  wolverine,  600;  fisher,  1,650;  racoon,  100;  wolf,  3,800; 
elk,  700;  deer,  750;  dressed  deer  skins,  1,200;  and  buffalo 
robes,  500. 


324  MINNESOTA   IN   THREE    CENTURIES. 

The  goods  supplied  by  the  company,  mostly  by  importation 
from  Great  Britain,  to  be  bartered  with  the  Indians  for  their 
furs,  Mackenzie  enumerated  thus: 

The  articles  necessary  for  this  trade  are  coarse  woolen  cloths  of 
different  kinds;  milled  blankets  of  different  sizes;  arms  and  ammuni- 
tion; twist  and  carrot  tobacco;  Manchester  goods;  linens,  and  course 
sheetings;  thread,  lines  and  twine;  common  hardware;  cutlery  and 
ironmongery  of  several  descriptions;  kettles  of  brass  and  copper,  and 
sheet-iron;  silk  and  cotton  handkerchiefs;  hats,  shoes  and  hose;  calicoes 
and  printed  cottons,  &c.,  &c.,  &c.  Spirituous  liquors  and  provisions  are 
purchased  in  Canada. 

Nearly  1,300  men  were  employed  by  this  Northwest  Com- 
pany, of  whom  nearly  400  were  engaged  in  the  canoe  transporta- 
tion of  supplies  from  Montreal  to  Grand  Portage  and  Rainy  lake, 
and  in  bringing  back  cargoes  of  furs.  The  others  were  mostly 
at  trading  posts  throughout  the  country  northwest  and  west  of 
Lake  Superior,  to  the  waters  of  the  Mackenzie  and  Peace  rivers 
and  on  the  Red  river,  the  Assiniboine,  the  Saskatchewan,  and 
their  tributaries,  coming  thence  in  the  summer  to  Rainy  lake  or 
Grand  Portage  with  their  canoe  loads  of  furs,  and  returning  with 
goods  and  provisions.  Mackenzie  described  the  men,  the  lading 
of  the  Montreal  canoes,  and  the  departure  for  the  upward  voy- 
age on  the  St.  Lawrence  and  Ottawa  rivers  and  the  upper  Great 
Lakes,  as  follows: 

We  shall  now  proceed  to  consider  the  number  of  men  employed  in 
the  concern:  viz.  fifty  clerks,  seventy-one  interpreters  and  clerks,  one 
thousand  one  hundred  and  twenty  canoe  men,  and  thirty -five  guides. 
Of  these,  five  clerks,  eighteen  guides,  and  three  hundred  and  fifty  canoe 
men,  were  employed  for  the  summer  season  in  going  from  Montreal  to 
the  Grande  Portage,  in  canoes,  part  of  whom  proceeded  from  thence  to 
Rainy  Lake.  *  *  *  These  were  hired  in  Canada  or  Montreal,  and 
were  absent  from  the  1st  of  May  till  the  latter  end  of  September. 
*  *  *  All  the  others  were  hired  by  the  year,  and  some  times  for 
three  years;  and  of  the  clerks  many  were  apprentices,  who  were  gen- 
erally engaged  for  five  or  seven  years.  *  *  * 

The  necessary  number  of  canoes  being  purchased,  at  about  three 
hundred  livres  each,  the  goods  formed  into  packages,  and  the  lakes  and 
rivers  free  of  ice,  which  they  usually  are  in  the  beginning  of  May, 
they  are  then  dispatched  from  La  Chine,  eight  miles  above  Montreal, 
with  eight  or  ten  men  in  each  canoe,  and  their  baggage;  and  sixty-five 


WILLIAM  MORRISON  AND  OTHER  TRADERS.     325 

packages  of  goods,  six  hundred  weight  of  biscuit,  two  hundred  weight 
of  pork,  three  bushels  of  pease,  for  the  men's  provision;  two  oil  cloths 
to  cover  the  goods,  a  sail,  &c.,  an  axe,  a  towing-line,  a  kettle,  and  a 
sponge  to  bail  out  the  water,  with  a  quantity  of  gum,  bark,  and  watape, 
to  repair  the  vessel.  An  European  on  seeing  one  of  these  slender  vessels 
thus  laden,  heaped  up,  and  sunk  with  her  gunwale  within  six  inches 
of  the  water,  would  think  his  fate  inevitable  in  such  a  boat,  when  he 
reflected  on  the  nature  of  her  voyage;  but  the  Canadians  are  so  expert 
that  few  accidents  happen. 

Leaving  La  Chine,  they  proceed  to  St.  Ann's,  within  two  miles  of 
the  Western  extremity  of  the  island  of  Montreal,  the  lake  of  the  two 
mountains  being  in  sight,  which  may  be  termed  the  commencement  of 
the  Utawas  [Ottawa]  River.  At  the  rapid  of  St.  Ann  they  are  obliged 
to  take  out  part,  if  not  the  whole  of  their  lading.  It  is  from  this 
spot  that  the  Canadians  consider  they  take  their  departure,  as  it  pos- 
sesses the  last  church  on  the  island,  which  is  dedicated  to  the  tutelar 
saint  of  voyagers. 

LATER    FUR    COMPANIES. 

The  Northwest  Company,  of  which  Mackenzie  wrote  as  thus 
quoted,  had  been  organized  in  1783-4,  to  enter  into  competition 
with  the  time-honored  Hudson  Bay  Company,  chartered  in  1670, 
whose  field  of  operations  was  mainly  farther  north,  about  Hudson 
Bay  and  westward.  But  the  prosperity  of  the  Northwest  Com- 
pany soon  led  to  the  formation,  in  1795,  of  the  New  Northwest 
Company,  more  commonly  called  the  XY  Company,  which  be- 
came a  formidable  rival.  Its  trading  house  at  Grand  Portage 
was  about  a  half  mile  distant  from  that  of  the  Northwest  Com- 
pany; and  when  the  latter  removed  its  headquarters  in  1803  to 
the  mouth  of  the  Kaministiquia  river,  on  Thunder  bay,  the  XY 
Company  also  erected  there  its  chief  trading  post  of  the  north 
shore  of  Lake  Superior.  About  two  years  later,  in  1804-05, 
these  rival  companies  formed  an  amicable  union,  continuing 
under  the  older  name  as  the  Northwest  Company.  The  popular 
name  of  the  temporarily  competing  XY  Company  came  from 
their  use  of  these  letters  to  mark  their  bales  of  goods  or  furs,  so 
chosen  as  the  next  in  alphabetic  order  after  the  "N.W."  used  in 
the  same  way  by  the  older  company. 


326  MINNESOTA  IN   THREE    CENTURIES. 

The  strife  and  warfare  between  the  Northwest  and  Hudson 
Bay  companies,  involving  the  attacks  against  the  Selkirk  Settle- 
ment of  the  Red  River,  in  1815  and  1816.  need  not  claim  atten- 
tion here;  though  these  direful  troubles,  and  also  the  loss  of 
crops  by  frosts  and  grasshoppers,  and  finally  the  great  flood  of 
the  Red  river  in  1826,  caused  some  of  the  Swiss  immigrant 
farmers  of  the  Selkirk  colony  to  remove  in  1827  to  the  vicinity 
of  Fort  Snelling,  those  being  the  first  agricultural  settlers  within 
the  area  of  Minnesota. 

Much  of  the  centuries-long  rivalries  in  the  fur  trade,  first 
between  the  British  and  the  French,  afterward  between  these  two 
British  companies,  and  latest  between  competing  traders  of  the 
United  States,  has  been  well  told  in  histories  of  the  Hudson  Bay 
Company,  by  Beckles  Willson,  published  in  1899;  by  Prof. 
George  Bryce,  in  1900;  and  by  Miss  Agnes  C.  Laut,  now  in 
press  and  expected  to  be  published  in  the  summer  of  the  present 
year  1908. 

In  1808  the  American  Fur  Company  was  incorporated  by 
an  act  of  the  legislature  of  New  York.  Its  founder,  John  Jacob 
Astor,  was  its  president  until  1834,  being  succeeded  in  the  presi- 
dency by  Ramsay  Crooks,  for  whom  Crookston,  the  largest 
city  of  the  part  of  the  Red  river  valley  in  Minnesota,  was  named. 

After  1822  this  great  company,  absorbing  or  suppressing 
many  smaller  rivals,  was  conducted  in  two  distinct  departments, 
the  Northern  and  the  Western.  Its  Northern  Department  em- 
braced the  region  of  the  Great  Lakes  and  the  upper  Mississippi, 
with  Crooks  as  superintendent  and  afterward  president,  residing 
in  New  York  City,  but  spending  much  time  at  Mackinaw  and  in 
other  parts  of  the  Northwest.  Pierre  Chouteau,  Jr.,  of  St.  Louis, 
was  the  principal  superintendent  of  the  Western  Department, 
which  comprised  the  Missouri  river  country  and  the  Rocky 
mountains. 

For  the  very  interesting  history  of  this  great  fur  trading 
company,  especially  of  its  Western  Department,  the  reader  should 
consult  H.  M.  Chittenden's  elaborate  work  in  three  volumes, 
published  in  1902,  entitled  "The  American  Fur  Trade  of  the 
Far  West" 


WILLIAM  MORRISON  AND  OTHER  TRADEES.     327 

For  thorough  consideration  of  the  effects  of  the  fur  trade 
upon  the  Indians,  and  of  its  service  as  the  precursor  of  the  white 
man's  occupation  of  all  the  land,  see  "The  Character  and  In- 
fluence of  the  Indian  Trade  in  Wisconsin,"  by  Prof.  Frederick 
J.  Turner,  forming  pages  543-615  in  Volume  IX  (1891)  of 
the  Johns  Hopkins  University  Studies  in  Historical  and  Poli- 
tical Science.  In  a  less  extended  form,  this  study  had  been 
previously  published  in  the  Proceedings  of  the  Thirty-sixth  An- 
nual Meeting  of  the  State  Historical  Society  of  Wisconsin,  in 
1889. 


Chapter  XIII. 

ZEBULON  M.  PIKE. 

THE   NORTHWEST   TERRITORY. 

A  LITTLE  more  than  one-third  of  the  area  of  Minnesota, 
comprising  about  29,000  square  miles,  on  the  east  side 
of  the  Mississippi  river  and  of  a  line  drawn  south  from 
"the  most  northwestern  point"  of  the  Lake  of  the  Woods  to  the 
Mississippi,  belonged  to  the  national  domain  of  the  original  thir- 
teen United  States  in  accordance  with  the  Treaty  of  1783,  at  the 
end  of  the  Revolutionary  War.  The  other  two-thirds  of  our 
state,  or  about  55,000  square  miles,  lying  west  of  the  Mississippi 
and  of  the  line  mentioned,  have  been  commonly  regarded  as  a 
part  of  the  Louisiana  Purchase,  acquired  in  1803. 

Recent  discussions,  however,  concerning  the  terms  of  the 
treaties  of  France  in  1763,  ceding  Canada  and  the  country  east 
of  the  Mississippi  river  to  Great  Britain  and  the  part  of  the 
Louisiana  Territory  west  of  the  Mississippi  to  Spain,  seem  to 
warrant  a  conclusion  that  the  vast  tract  thus  ceded  to  Spain, 
which  was  acquired  forty  years  later  by  the  United  States,  had 
as  its  northern  boundary  the  line  of  natural  watershed  dividing 
the  tributaries  of  the  Mississippi  and  Missouri  rivers  from  the 
Nelson  river  basin.  Under  this  view  the  two  parts  of  Minnesota 
received  respectively  in  the  Northwest  Territory  and  the  Louis- 
iana Purchase  are  nearly  equal  in  area. 

According  to  the  Treaty  of  1783,  the  Northwest  Territory 
reached  certainly  as  far  west  as  to  the  meridian  passing  through 
the  Northwest  Angle  of  the  Lake  of  the  Woods.  The  further 
agreement  between  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States  in  1818, 
defining  our  international  boundary  from  that  lake  to  the  Rocky 

329 


330  MINNESOTA   IN   THREE    CENTURIES. 

mountains  as  the  forty-ninth  parallel,  should  be  understood  i" 
have  extended  our  Northwest  Territory  to  include  after  that  datr 
an  additional  large  tract  continuing  westward  beyond  the  head 
of  the  Mississippi  and  the  Lake  of  the  Woods,  to  where  thi.- 
parallel  intersects  the  natural  divide  or  height  of  land  between 
the  Missouri  and  Nelson  basins.  Thus  in  the  year  1818  the 
United  States  came  into  definite  and  acknowledged  possession  of 
the  Red  river  valley,  in  the  present  states  of  Minnesota  and 
North  Dakota,  of  the  region  about  Devil's  Lake,  of  more  than 
half  of  the  Turtle  mountain,  crossed  by  the  boundary  between 
North  Dakota  and  Manitoba,  and  of  a  large  part  of  the  Sourie 
or  Mouse  river  basin.  As  thus  extended,  the  Northwest  Terri- 
tory reached  almost  to  the  northwest  corner  of  North  Dakota. 

But  it  was  not  until  after  the  celebration  of  the  centennial 
anniversary  of  the  Louisiana  Purchase,  by  the  World's  Fair  at 
St.  Louis,  that  reconsideration  of  the  scope  and  import  of  the 
treaties  in  1763,  1783,  1803,  and  1818,  established  this  conclusion. 
During  a  hundred  years  the  Purchase  of  Louisiana  was  sup- 
posed to  have  included  the  northwest  part  of  Minnesota  and  all 
our  northern  border  westward  to  the  Rocky  mountains. 

THE  ORDINANCE  OF  1787. 

For  the  government  of  the  Northwest  Territory,  comprising 
the  broad  country  west  of  New  York  and  Pennsylvania  to  the 
upper  Mississippi,  lying  between  the  Ohio  river  and  the  Great 
Lakes,  and  for  its  prospective  gradual  formation  into  new  states 
of  the  federal  union,  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  in  1787 
enacted  a  famous  ordinance,  the  first  great  legislative  act  of  this? 
new  nation. 

Samuel  M.  Davis,  in  a  paper  on  "The  Dual  Origin  of 
Minnesota,"  published  in  the  Minnesota  Historical  Society  Col- 
lections (Volume  IX,  1901,  pages  519-548),  wrote:  "This  ordi- 
nance was  one  of  the  most  important  acts  ever  passed  by  an 
American  legislative  body,  for  it  determined  with  great  wisdom 
and  statesmanship  that  the  new  Northwestern  states  should  be 
free  from  the  taint  nnd  curse  of  negro  slavery,  and  that  educa- 


ZEBULON    M.    PIKE. 


ZEBULON  M.  PIKE.  331 

tion  should  receive  just  and  due  attention,  asserting  thus  a 
principle  which  later  has  found  expression  in  its  being  aided  by 
the  grant  of  a  part  of  the  public  lands." 

Theodore  Koosevelt,  in  the  third  volume  of  "The  Winning 
of  the  West/'  published  in  1894,  wrote: 

In  truth  the  ordinance  of  1787  was  so  wide-reaching  in  its  effects, 
was  drawn  in  accordance  with  so  lofty  a  morality  and  such  far-seeing 
statesmanship,  and  was  fraught  with  sjich  weal  for  the  nation,  that 
it  will  ever  rank  among  the  foremost  of  American  state  papers,  coming 
in  that  little  group  which  includes  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  the 
Constitution,  Washington's  Farewell  Address,  and  Lincoln's  Emancipation 
Proclamation  and  Second  Inaugural.  It  marked  out  a  definite  line  of 
orderly  freedom  along  which  the  new  States  were  to  advance.  It  laid 
deep  the  foundation  for  that  system  of  widespread  public  education 
characteristic  of  the  Republic  and  so  essential  to  its  healthy  growth. 
It  provided  that  complete  religious  freedom  and  equality  which  we  now 
accept  as  part  of  the  order  of  nature,  but  which  were  then  unknown  in 
any  important  European  nation.  It  guaranteed  the  civil  liberty  of  all 
citizens.  It  provided  for  an  indissoluble  Union,  a  Union  which  should 
grow  until  it  could  relentlessly  crush  nullification  and  secession;  for  the 
States  founded  under  it  were  the  creatures  of  the  Nation,  and  were  by 
the  compact  declared  forever  inseparable  from  it. 

The  number  of  states  to  be  made  from  the  Northwest  Ter- 
ritory was  limited  to  five,  according  to  this  Ordinance,  its  pro- 
visions in  this  respect  being  noted  by  Davis  as  follows: 

Article  V  provided  for  the  division  of  the  Territory  into  States,  not 
less  than  three  nor  more  than  five,  and  drew  their  boundary  lines,  sub- 
ject to  changes  that  Congress  might  afterwards  make.  A  population  of 
60.000  free  inhabitants  should  entitle  any  one  of  these  states  to  ad- 
mission, not  "into  the  Union,"  a  phrase  that  came  in  with  the  Con- 
stitution, but  "by  its  delegates  into  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States,  on  an  equal  footing  with  the  original  states  in  all  re- 
spects whatever,"  and.  to  "form  a  permanent  constitution  and  State  gov- 
ernment," with  the  proviso  that  "the  constitution  so  to  be  formed 
shall  be  republican,  and  in  conformity  to  the  principles  contained  in 
these  articles." 

In  succession  the  states  of  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Michi- 
gan, and  Wisconsin,  were  formed  from  this  Territory.  Tran- 
scending the  authority  granted  by  the  Ordinance  of  1787,  Con- 
gress allowed  a  remnant  west  of  the  St.  Croix  river  and  north 


332  MINNESOTA   IN   THREE   CENTURIES. 

and  west  of  Lake  Superior  to  be  left  after  the  admission  of 
Wisconsin  as  the  fifth  state  from  the  old  Northwest  Territory; 
and  from  that  remnant,  with  a  large  tract  of  the  old  Territory 
of  Louisiana,  west  of  the  Mississippi,  the  North  Star  State  of 
Minnesota  was  added  to  the  constellation  of  our  country  and  our 


THE  LOUISIANA  PURCHASE. 

France  in  1763,  humbled  by  wars  in  Europe  and  America, 
ceded  her  chief  possessions  on  this  continent  to  her  English  and 
Spanish  rivals.  Canada  and  the  part  of  old  Louisiana  lying  east 
of  the  Mississippi  river,  excepting  a  tract  that  included  New 
Orleans,  passed  to  the  dominion  of  England,  and  the  part  of 
Louisiana  west  of  this  river  to  Spain.  Thus  all  New  Franco 
was  lost,  for  which  Champlain,  Nicolet,  Groseilliers  and  Radis- 
son,  Joliet  and  Marquette,  La  Salle,  Perrot  and  Le  Sueur, 
Yerendrye  and  his  sons,  and  many  other  brave  pioneers  of 
exploration  and  civilization,  had  striven  with  temporary  success. 
They  brought  half  of  the  continent  to  the  knowledge  of  geog- 
raphers, but  its  national  ownership  was  relinquished,  being  trans- 
ferred through  vicissitudes  of  war  partly  to  the  British  in 
Canada,  and  partly,  by  treaties  in  1783  and  1803,  to  the  United 
States. 

Louisiana,  as  named  by  La  Salle  and  Hennepin,  in  1682 
and  1683,  comprised  the  basin  of  the  Mississippi  and  its  tribu- 
taries, with  relatively  small  adjoining  areas  east  and  west  of 
the  lower  Mississippi,  directly  tributary  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 
On  the  east,  Louisiana  thus  reached  to  the  sources  of  the  Alle- 
gheny, Monongahela,  Kanawha,  Cumberland,  and  Tennessee 
rivers,  including  the  west  flank  of  the  Appalachian  mountain 
belt;  and  on  the  west  its  boundary  was  the  line  of  the  Rocky 
mountain  watershed  dividing  the  highest  springs  of  the  Missouri, 
Arkansas  and  Red  rivers  from  those  of  the  Columbia,  the  Col- 
orado and  the  Rio  Grande. 

After  France  in  the  Treaty  of  Paris,  February  10,  1763, 
ceded  nearly  all  her  territory  east  of  the  Mississippi  to  Great 


ZEBULON  M.  PIKE.  333 

Britain  and  the  west  side  of  the  Mississippi  basin  to  Spain,  the 
name  of  Louisiana  was  restricted  mainly  to  the  latter  area.  It 
also  comprised,  however,  as  a  part  of  the  cession  to  Spain,  the 
island  of  New  Orleans,  east  of  the  great  river,  bounded  by  the 
Bayou  Manchac,  the  Amite  river,  and  lakes  Maurepas,  Pont- 
chartrain,  and  Borgne,  on  the  north,  by  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  on 
the  east  and  south,  and  by  the  river  on  the  southwest. 

Amid  the  exigencies  of  European  wars  in  the  year  1800, 
Spain  ceded  Louisiana  back  to  France  under  the  government  of 
Napoleon;  and  on  April  30,  1803,  he  negotiated  its  sale  to  the 
United  States,  for  $15,000,000.  The  territory  embraced  the 
same  great  western  side  of  the  Mississippi  basin  which  France 
had  yielded  to  Spain  forty  years  before;  and  east  of  the  lower 
part  of  the  Mississippi  it  included  the  New  Orleans  island  and 
an  additional  area  extending  north  to  the  latitude  of  thirty-one 
degrees  and  east  to  the  Perdido  river.  The  tract  on  the  east  side 
of  the  Mississippi  forms  the  southeastern  part  of  the  present 
state  of  Louisiana  and  the  extreme  southern  parts  of  Mississippi 
and  Alabama. 

The  entire  area  of  the  Louisiana  Purchase,  reaching  from 
our  great  river  to  the  western  crest  line  of  the  continent,  and 
from  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  northwestward  to  the  forty-ninth 
parallel,  but  not  including  the  basins  of  the  Eed  river  of  the 
North  and  the  Mouse  river,  is  about  900,000  square  miles.  Ac- 
cording to  the  official  United  States  map  of  1904,  it  embraces 
the  whole  of  Arkansas,  Missouri,  Iowa,  Nebraska,  Kansas,  Okla- 
homa, and  the  Indian  Territory;  about  half  of  Minnesota  and 
North  Dakota;  nearly  the  whole  of  South  Dakota  and  of  Louisi- 
ana; relatively  small  parts  of  Texas  and  New  Mexico;  and  large 
parts  of  Colorado,  Wyoming,  and  Montana. 

Minnesota  was  the  fifth  state  admitted  to  the  Union  wholly 
or  partly  from  this  Purchase. 

The  reader  who  would  learn  more  fully  the  history  and 
diplomacy  of  this  first  and  greatest  acquisition  of  territory  by 
the  United  States  should  consult  the  several  works  published 
on  this  subject  by  Hon.  Binger  Hermann  in  1898,  Dr.  James  K. 
Hosmer  and  James  Q.  Howard  in  1902,  Eufus  Blanchard  and 


334  MINNESOTA   IN   THREE   CENTURIES. 

Ripley  Hitchcock  in  1903,  and  Walter  R.  Smith  in  1904;  and 
also  should  examine  the  large  wall  map  of  the  United  States, 
before  mentioned,  showing  the  successive  additions  to  our  na- 
tional domain,  published  in  1904  by  the  Department  of  the 
Interior. 

LIFE  AND  MILITARY  SERVICES  OF  PIKE. 

Two  national  expeditions  were  soon  organized  to  explore 
little  known  parts  of  the  Louisiana  Purchase.  The  more  im- 
portant and  longer  of  these  expeditions,  under  the  leadership 
of  Lewis  and  Clark,  starting  from  near  St.  Louis  on  May  14, 
1804,  traversed  the  Upper  Missouri  region  and  crossed  the  Rocky 
mountains  and  the  Columbia  basin  to  the  Pacific  ocean;  and  the 
shorter  expedition,  led  by  Lieutenant  (afterward  General)  Pike, 
went  nearly  to  the  utmost  sources  of  the  upper  Mississippi. 

Every  human  life  is  an  interesting  drama.  Grandly  so, 
and  truly  noble,  was  the  life  of  Zebulon  Montgomery  Pike;  and 
it  ended  with  a  halo  of  immortal  glory,  as  a  patriot  soldier  who 
died  for  his  country. 

Pike  was  born  in  Lamberton  (now  a  part  of  Trenton), 
N.  J.,  January  5,  1779.  His  father  was  a  captain  in  the  Revo- 
lution, and  continued  in  the  federal  army  service.  The  son, 
Zebulon  Montgomery,  was  of  slender  form  in  his  boyhood,  of 
pale  and  very  fair  complexion,  with  a  gentle  and  retiring  dis- 
position, but  with  a  resolute  spirit.  He  received  only  a  scanty 
common  school  education.  At  the  age  of  fifteen  years  he  began 
service  as  a  cadet  in  his  father's  regiment,  and  was  promoted 
when  twenty  years  old  to  the  rank  of  first  lieutenant. 

From  General  James  Wilkinson,  in  command  on  the  Mis- 
sissippi, Lieutenant  Pike  received  orders  in  1805  to  conduct  an 
expedition  to  its  upper  streams  and  lakes,  for  several  purposes, 
as  to  negotiate  treaties  with  the  Indians,  to  secure  a  conformity 
with  the  laws  of  the  United  States  by  the  agents  of  the  North- 
west Company  and  others  engaged  at  the  far  north  in  the  fur 
trade,  and  to  extend  geographic  exploration.  Pike  started  from 
St.  Louis,  on  this  expedition,  August  9,  1805,  with  twenty  sol- 


ZEBTJLOK  M.  PIKE.  335 

diers,  in  a  keel  boat  seventy  feet  long,  provisioned  for  four 
months. 

On  the  23rd  day  of  September,  1805,  on  the  island  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Minnesota  river,  since  called  Pike  island,  he  made 
a  formal  purchase  by  treaty,  from  chiefs  of  the  Dakotas  or 
Sioux,  of  a  large  tract  reaching  from  the  Minnesota  river  to 
the  Palls  of  St.  Anthony,  and  another  tract  at  the  mouth  of  the 
St.  Croix  river,  these  lands  passing  thus  to  the  ownership  of 
the  United  States  for  military  purposes. 

Proceeding  up  the  Mississippi,  Pike  and  his  party  were 
overtaken  by  early  snow  and  cold,  on  October  16,  and  were 
obliged  to  winter  at  Pike  rapids,  in  what  is  now  Morrison  county. 
The  site  of  his  stockaded  encampment,  or  fort,  has  been  iden- 
tified there,  on  the  west  shore  of  the  river,  by  the  late  Hon. 
Nathan  Richardson,  of  Little  Falls.  The  party  relied  largely 
on  the  abundant  game  of  the  region  for  their  sustenance. 

In  the  winter,  setting  out  December  10,  Pike  advanced 
afoot,  with  a  few  of  his  men,  to  Sandy,  Leech,  and  Cass  lakes, 
attained  the  objects  of  his  expedition  concerning  the  relations 
of  the  fur  traders  to  the  United  States,  and  returned  to  the  fort 
at  Pike  rapids  on  the  5th  of  March.  Thence  descending  the 
Mississippi,  he  reached  St.  Louis  on  the  last  day  of  April,  1806. 
His  very  interesting  journal  gives  our  earliest  detailed  descrip- 
tion of  the  upper  Mississippi  region  above  the  mouth  of  Elk 
river,  with  many  names  of  lakes  and  streams,  and  a  definite 
view  of  the  conditions  then  prevailing  at  the  fur-trading  posts. 

After  a  few  weeks  Pike  was  again  despatched  by  General 
Wilkinson,  to  treat  with  the  Indian  tribes  and  explore  the  coun- 
try west  and  southwest  of  St.  Louis,  to  the  headquarters  of  the 
Arkansas  and  Eed  rivers.  In  this  second  expedition,  on  Decem- 
ber 3,  1806,  he  measured  the  altitude  of  the  very  conspicuous 
mountain  in  central  Colorado  which  has  been  since  called  Pike's 
Peak.  Proceeding  southward  and  unintentionally  entering  Span- 
ish territory,  Pike  and  his  small  command  encountered  Spanish 
troops,  and  he  was  summoned  before  the  governor  of  Santa  Fe, 
but,  after  considerable  delay,  was  permitted  to  return  into  the 
United  States. 


386  MINNESOTA   IN  THREE    CENTURIES. 

The  journals  of  these  expeditions  were  published  by  Pike 
in  1810;  in  the  following  year  an  English  edition  from  his 
manuscripts  was  issued  in  London;  and  in  the  years  1812  and 
1813  French  and  Dutch  editions  were  published.  In  1889  the 
English  edition  was  reprinted  at  Denver;  and  in  1895  an  an- 
notated reprint  from  the  original  of  1810,  with  a  memoir  of 
Pike,  was  published  by  Dr.  Elliott  Coues,  who  was  aided  in 
geographic  notes  for  Minnesota  by  the  late  Alfred  J.  Hill,  of 
the  Minnesota  Historical  Society. 

Besides  reproducing  Pike's  maps,  Dr.  Coues  added  a  very 
elaborate  "Historico-Geographic  Chart  of  the  Upper  Mississippi 
River,"  which  gives  lists  of  the  names  applied  by  successive  maps 
and  authors  to  each  of  the  many  streams  and  lakes  above  the 
Falls  of  St.  Anthony. 

During  the  second  war  with  Great  Britain,  Pike  received 
rapid  promotion,  and  on  March  12,  1813,  was  commissioned  as 
brigadier  general.  In  the  attack  on  York  (now  Toronto),  Can- 
ada, he  was  killed  April  27,  1813,  with  many  others,  both  of  the 
United  States  and  British  troops,  by  the  explosion  of  a  British 
magazine. 

No  other  explorer  of  Minnesota  more  deserves  recognition 
and  honor.  It  may  well  be  hoped  that  his  name  shall  be  given 
to  some  county  yet  to  be  formed  adjoining  or  including  Leech 
lake  or  Cass  lake. 

Pike  died,  like  General  Wolfe  before  Quebec,  just  when  his 
troops  had  won  an  important  battle.  As  Coues  wrote:  "Each 
led  to  the  assault;  each  conquered;  each  fell  in  the  arms  of  vic- 
tory; each  is  said  to  have  pillowed  his  head  on  the  stricken 
colors  of  the  defenders." 

The  circumstances  of  General  Pike's  death  enshrined  him 
as  a  hero  and  martyr  in  the  hearts  of  all  his  countrymen.  Coues 
thus  describes  his  last  hours: 

The  dying  general  was  carried  to  a  boat  at  the  lake  side  and  con- 
veyed to  the  Pert,  whence  he  was  taken  aboard  the  flagship  Madison. 
Some  recorded  words  of  his  last  moments  need  not  be  scanned  with 
critical  eye.  When  those  who  bore  their  fallen  leader  reached  the  boat, 
the  huzza  of  the  troops  fell  upon  his  ears.  "What  does  it  mean?"  he 
feebly  asked.  "Victory!"  was  the  reply;  "the  Union  Jack  is  coming 


ZEBULON  M.  PIKE.  337 

down,  General,— the  Stars  and  Stripes  are  going  up."  The  dying  hero's 
face  lighted  up  with  a  smile  of  ecstasy.  His  spirit  lingered  a  few  hours. 
Before  the  end  came,  the  British  flag  was  brought  to  him.  He  made  a 
sign  to  place  it  under  his  head;  and  thus  he  expired. 

His  life  was  crowned  with  a  happy  and  glorious  death,  the 
patriot's  supreme  test  and  reward.  Sweet  and  beautiful  it  is 
to  die  for  the  fatherland. 

NOTES  OF  PIKE'S  JOURNAL  IN  MINNESOTA. 

From  the  rare  book  narrating  Pike's  expeditions,  the  firsf 
volume  of  the  Minnesota  Historical  Society  Collections  repub- 
lished  large  parts  of  his  journal  written  on  the  upper  Mississippi 
and  in  his  journey  from  his  winter  quarters  to  the  more  north- 
ern fur  trading  posts.  With  the  additions  of  numerous  bio- 
graphic and  geographic  notes  by  the  editor,  J.  Fletcher  Williams, 
secretary  of  the  Society,  this  reprint  gives  very  vividly  and  elab- 
orately a  general  view  of  the  condition  of  the  Sioux  and  Ojib- 
ways,  of  the  fur  trade,  and  of  the  wild  fauna,  at  the  time  of  this 
first  government  expedition  in  Minnesota. 

Many  interesting  parts  of  the  journal,  however,  were  omitted 
from  this  reprint;  and  the  reader  may  better  peruse  the  full 
narrative  as  published  by  Coues,  with  his  very  extensive  notes 
and  comments. 

Pike  and  his  party  arrived  at  the  Wisconsin  river  and 
Prairie  du  Chien,  in  their  ascent  of  the  Mississippi,  on  Septem- 
ber 4,  1805,  and  went  forward  on  the  8th,  in  two  bateaux.  They 
were  accompanied  by  two  interpreters,  Pierre  Eousseau  for  all 
the  expedition,  and  Joseph  Eenville,  to  go  as  far  as  the  Falls 
of  St.  Anthony. 

On  September  12  they  passed  the  Eacine  or  Root  river  and 
the  site  of  La  Crosse,  so  named  from  the  game  of  ball  frequently 
played  by  the  Sioux  on  its  beautiful  prairie.  The  next  day  they 
passed  the  Black  river,  and  encamped  on  or  near  the  site  of 
Tsempealeau. 

September  14,  coming  to  the  prairie  since  occupied  by  the 
city  of  Winona,  Pike  and  three  others  of  his  party  disembarked, 
went  to  the  top  of  the  valley  bluffs,  about  600  feet  above  the 

I.-20 


338  ^IIXNESOTA    IX    THREE    CENTURIES. 

river,  and  enjoyed  the  outlook,  which  Pike  described  as  follow.- : 

We  crossed  first  a  dry  flat  prairie;  when  we  arrived  at  the  hills  we 
ascended  them,  from  which  we  had  a  most  sublime  and  beautiful  pros- 
pect. On  the  right,  we  saw  the  mountains  [bluffs]  which  we  passed  in 
the  morning  and  the  prairie  in  their  rear;  like  distant  clouds,  the 
mountains  at  the  Prairie  Le  Cross;  on  our  left  and  under  our  feet,  the 
valley  between  the  two  barren  hills  through  which  the  Mississippi 
wound  itself  by  numerous  channels,  forming  many  beautiful  islands,  as 
far  as  the  eye  could  embrace  the  scene;  and  our  four  boats  under  full 
sail,  their  flags  streaming  before  the  wind.  It  was  altogether  a  pros- 
pect so  variegated  and  romantic  that  a  man  may  scarcely  expect  to 
enjoy  such  a  one  but  twice  or  thrice  in  the  course  of  his  life. 

On  September  15  the  expedition  passed  the  Zumbro  river, 
and  camped  opposite  the  site  of  Alma,  Wisconsin;  and  on  the 
16th  the  Chippewa  river  was  passed,  Lake  Pepin  was  entered, 
and  in  the  evening  a  run  with  sails  was  made  to  a  landing  for 
shelter  from  the  increasing  gale  at  or  near  the  site  of  Stockholm, 
Wisconsin. 

On  the  18th  Pike  voyaged  out  of  this  lake,  and  came  to 
the  mouth  of  Canoe  (now  called  Cannon)  river,  close  above  the 
site  of  the  city  of  Red  Wing.  Of  the  Sioux  chief  met  at  this 
place  Pike  wrote:  "There  was  a  small  band  of  Sioux  under  the 
command  of  Red  Wing,  the  second  war  chief  in  the  nation.  He 
made  me  a  speech  and  presented  a  pipe,  pouch,  and  buffalo  skin. 
He  appeared  to  be  a  man  of  sense,  and  promised  to  accompany 
me  to  St.  Peters  [the  Minnesota  river] ;  he  saluted  me,  and  had 
it  returned.  I  made  him  a  small  present." 

Pike  and  his  boatmen  embarked  early  the  next  morning,  and 
took  dinner  at  the  mouth  of  the  St.  Croix  river.  On  the  evening 
of  the  20th,  they  "encamped  on  a  prairie  on  the  east  side,  on 
which  is  a  large  painted  stone  [Red  Rock],  about  eight  miles  be- 
low the  Sioux  village." 

The  journal  for  September  21  reads  thus,  telling  of  the 
canoe  voyage  past  the  site  of  St.  Paul: 

21st  Sept.  Saturday. — Embarked  at  a  seasonable  hour,  breakfasted 
at  the  Sioux  village,  on  the  east  side.  It  consists  of  eleven  lodges,  and 
is  situated  at  the  head  of  an  island  just  below  a  ledge  of  rocks  [Dayton 
bluff,  in  the  east  edge  of  the  city  of  St.  Paul].  The  village  was  eva- 


ZEBULON  M.  PIKE.  339 

cuated  at  this  time,  all  the  Indians  having  gone  out  to  the  lands  to 
gather  fols  avoin  [Avild  rice] .  About  two  miles  above  [opposite  the  center 
of  the  present  city],  saw  three  bears  swimming  over  the  river,  but  at 
too  great  a  distance  for  us  to  have  killed  them;  they  made  the  shore 
before  I  could  come  up  with  them.  Passed  a  camp  of  Sioux,  of  four 
lodges,  in  which  I  saw  only  one  man,  whose  name  was  Black  Soldier. 
The  garrulity  of  the  women  astonished  me,  for  at  the  other  camps  they 
never  opened  their  lips;  but  here  they  flocked  round  us  with  all  their 
tongues  going  at  the  same  time;  the  cause  of  this  freedom  must  have 
been  the  absence  of  their  lords  and  masters.  Passed  the  encampment 
of  Mr.  Ferrebault  [Jean  B.  Faribault],  who  had  broken  his  peroque  and 
had  encamped  on  the  west  side  of  the  river,  about  three  miles  below 
St.  Peters.  We  made  our  encampment  on  the  N.E.  point  of  the  big 
island,  opposite  to  St.  Peters. 

On  the  afternoon  of  Sunday  the  Sioux  chief  named  Petit 
Corbeau  (as  translated  into  French,  meaning  Little  Crow)  came 
with  a  hundred  and  fifty  warriors,  and  preliminary  arrangements 
were  made  for  a  very  important  council  to  be  held  the  next  day. 
This  treaty  council  appears  to  have  been  held  at  Pike's  camp  on 
the  upper  end  of  the  long  and  low  Pike  island,  immediately  be- 
neath the  bluff,  about  100  feet  high,  on  which  Fort  Snelling  was 
afterward  built.  The  journal  describing  the  council  and  treaty 
reads  thus : 

23d  Sept.  Monday — Prepared  for  the  council,  which  we  commenced 
about  twelve  o'clock.  I  had  a  bower  or  shade,  made  of  my  sails,  on 
the  beach,  into  which  only  my  gentlemen  (the  traders)  and  the  chiefs 
entered.  I  then  addressed  them  in  a  speech,  which,  though  long,  and 
touching  on  many  points,  its  principal  object  was,  the  granting  of  land 
at  this  place,  falls  of  St.  Anthony,  and  St.  Croix  [river],  and  making 
peace  with  the  Chipeways.  I  was  replied  to  by  Le  Fils  de  Pinchow 
[Son  of  the  Fearless  Chief],  Le  Petit  Corbeau  [Little  Crow,  grandfather 
of  the  noted  chief  of  this  name  in  the  Outbreak  of  1862],  and  1'Original 
Leve  [Rising  Moose].  They  gave  me  the  land  required,  about  100,000 
acres  (equal  to  200,000  dollars),  and  promised  me  a  safe  passport,  for 
myself  and  any  chiefs  [Ojibways]  I  might  bring  down,  but  spoke  doubt- 
fully with  respect  to  the  peace.  I  gave  them  presents  to  the  amount 
of  about  200  dollars,  and  as  soon  as  the  council  was  over,  I  allowed 
the  traders  to  present  them  with  some  liquor,  which,  with  what  I 
myself  gave,  was  equal  to  60  gallons.  In  one  half  hour  they  were  all 
embarked  for  their  respective  villages. 


340  MINNESOTA   IN   THREE    CENTURIES. 

The  text  of  this  treaty  with  its  signatures,  ^iven  by  Pike  in 
an  appendix  of  his  book  published  in  1810  ("An  Account  of 
Kxpeditions  to  the  Sources  of  the  Mississippi,  and  through  the 
Western  Parts  of  Louisiana/'  etc.),,  is  as  follows: 

Whereas,  at  a  conference  held  between  the  United  States  of  America 
and  the  Sioux  nation  of  Indians:  lieutenant  Z.  M.  Pike,  of  the  army  of 
the  United  States,  and  the  chiefs  and  the  warriors  of  said  tribe,  have 
agreed  to  the  following  articles,  which  when  ratified  and  approved  of  by 
the  proper  authority,  shall  be  binding  on  both  parties. 

Art.  1.  TLat  the  Sioux  nation  grant  unto  the  United  States,  for 
the  purpose  of  establishment  of  military  posts,  nine  miles  square  at 
the  mouth  of  the  St.  Croix,  also  from  below  the  confluence  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi and  St.  Peters  up  the  Mississippi  to  include  the  falls  of  St. 
Anthony,  extending  nine  miles  on  each  side  of  the  river,  that  the  Sioux 
nation  grants  to  the  United  States  the  full  sovereignty  and  power  over 
said  district  forever. 

Art.  2.  That,  in  consideration  of  the  above  grants,  the  United 
States  shall  pay  (filled  up  by  the  senate  with  2,000  dollars). 

Art.   3.    The    United    States    promise,    on    their    part,    to    permit   the 
Sioux  to  pass  and  repass,  hunt,  or  make  other  use  of  the  said  districts 
as    they   have    formerly    done,    without   any    other    exception    than    those 
specified   in  article   first. 
In    testimony    whereof    we,    the    undersigned,    have    hereunto    set     our 

hands  and  seals,  at  the  mouth  of  the  river  St.  Peters,  on  the  23d 

day  of  September,  1805. 

Z.  M.  Pike,  1st  lieut.  and  agent  at  the  above  conference.   (L.  S.) 
Le  Petit  Corbeau,  his  x  mark  (L.  S.) 

Way  Ago  Enagee,  his  x  mark  (L.  S.) 

The  expedition  moved  forward  on  September  25,  and  port- 
aged past  the  Falls  of  St.  Anthony  on  the  28th  and  29th.  Pike 
surveyed  the  falls  and  portage  on  the  30th,  and  embarked  above 
the  falls  on  the  first  day  of  October. 

For  the  next  four  miles  the  river  was  sufficiently  deep,  but 
in  its  farther  ascent  frequent  shoals  and  rapids  were  encountered, 
causing  the  men  to  wade  in  the  cold  water  while  drawing  and 
pushing  their  lightened  boats.  October  3  a  badger  was  killed, 
the  first  ever  seen  by  Pike;  and  on  the  next  day,  in  which  the 
Crow  river  was  passed,  a  pocket  gopher  was  caught,  also  an  addi- 
tion to  the  previously  known  fauna.  Two  droves  of  elk  were 
seen  on  October  6,  between  the  sites  of  Monticello  and  Clearwater. 


ZEBULON  M.  PIKE.  341 

On  the  llth  the  difficult  Grand  [Sauk]  rapids  were  passed,  and 
on  the  next  day  the  Watab  rapids,  narrowly  inclosed  by  rock  out- 
crops. 

Extracts  from  the  journal,  telling  of  the  establishment  of 
the  winter  quarters  of  the  expedition,  on  the  west  bank  of  the 
river  at  Pike  rapids,  about  four  miles  south  of  Little  Falls,  are 
as  follows: 

loth  October,  Tuesday. — Ripples  all  day.  In  the  morning  the  large 
boat  came  up,  and  I  once  more  got  my  party  together;  they  had  been 
detained  by  taking  in  the  game.  Yesterday  and  this  day  passed  some 
skirts  of  good  land,  well  timbered,  swamps  of  hemlock  and  white  pine. 
Water  very  hard.  The  river  became  shallow  and  full  of  islands.  We 
encamped  on  a  beautiful  point,  on  the  west,  below  a  fall  of  the  river 
over  a  bed  of  rocks,  through  which  we  had  two  narrow  shoots  to  make 
our  way  the  next  day.  Killed  two  deer,  five  ducks,  and  two  geese. 
This  day's  march  made  me  think  seriously  of  our  wintering-ground  and 
leaving  our  large  boats.  Distance  five  miles. 

16th  October,  Wednesday.— When  we  arose  in  the  morning  found 
that  snow  had  fallen  during  the  night;  the  ground  was  covered  and  it 
continued  to  snow.  This  indeed  was  but  poor  encouragement  for  at- 
tacking the  rapids,  in  which  we  were  certain  to  wade  to  our  necks.  I 
•was  determined,  however,  if  possible,  to  make  la  riviere  de  Corbeau 
[now  Crow  Wing  river],  the  highest  point  ever  made  by  traders  in 
their  bark  canoes.  We  embarked,  and  after  four  hours  work  became  so 
benumbed  with  cold  that  our  limbs  were  perfectly  useless.  We  put  to 
shore  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  river,  about  two-thirds  of  the  way  up 
the  rapids.  Built  a  large  fire;  and  then  discovered  that  our  boats  were 
nearly  half  full  of  water,  both  having  sprung  large  leaks  so  as  to 
oblige  me  to  keep  three  hands  bailing.  My  sergeant  (Kennerman),  one 
of  the  stoutest  men  I  ever  knew,  broke  a  blood-vessel  and  vomited 
nearly  two  quarts  of  blood.  *  *  *  These  unhappy  circumstances,  in 
addition  to  the  inability  of  four  other  men,  whom  we  were  obliged  to 
leave  on  shore,  convinced  me  that,  if  I  had  no  regard  for  my  own 
1  ealth  and  constitution,  I  should  have  some  for  those  poor  fellows,  who 
were  killing  themselves  to  obey  my  orders.  After  we  had  breakfasted 
find  refreshed  ourselves,  we  went  down  to  our  boats  on  the  rocks, 
where  I  was  obliged  to  leave  them.  I  then  informed  my  men  that  we 
would  return  to  the  camp  and  leave  some  of  the  party  and  our  large 
boats.  This  information  was  pleasing,  and  the  attempt  to  reach  the 
camp  soon  accomplished.  My  reasons  for  this  step  have  partly  been 
already  stated.  The  necessity  of  unloading  and  refitting  my  boats, 
the  beauty  and  convenience  of  the  spot  for  building  huts,  the  fine  pine 
trees  for  peroques,  and  the  quantity  of  game,  were  additional  induce- 


342  MINNESOTA   IN   THREE    CENTURIES. 

incnts.  We  immediately  unloaded  our  boats  and  secured  their  cargoes. 
In  the  evening  I  went  out  upon  a  small  but  beautiful  creek  [now 
Swan  river],  which  empties  into  the  falls,  for  the  purpose  of  selecting 
pine  trees  to  make  canoes.  Saw  five  deer,  and  killed  one  buck  weighing 
137  pounds.  By  my  leaving  men  at  this  place,  and  from  the  great 
(juantities  of  game  in  its  vicinity,  I  was  ensured  plenty  of  provision 
for  my  return  voyage.  In  the  party  left  behind  was  one  hunter,  to  be 
continually  employed,  who  would  keep  our  stock  of  salt  provisions 
good.  *  *  * 

17th  October,  Thursday. — It  continued  to  snow.  I  walked  out  in 
the  morning  and  killed  four  bears,  and  my  hunter  three  deers.  Felled 
our  trees  for  canoes  and  commenced  working  on  them. 

18th  October,  Friday. — Stopped  hunting  and  put  every  hand  to 
work.  Cut  60  logs  for  huts  and  worked  at  the  canoes.  This,  con- 
sisidering  we  had  only  two  falling-axes  and  three  hatchets,  was  pretty 
good  work.  Cloudy,  with  little  snow. 

19th  October,  Saturday. — Raised  one  of  our  houses,  and  almost  com- 
pleted one  canoe.  I  was  employed  the  principal  part  of  this  day  in 
writing  letters  and  making  arrangements  which  I  deemed  necessary,  in 
case  I  sBould  never  return. 

20th  October,  Sunday. — Continued  our  labor  at  the  houses  and  can- 
oes, finished  my  letters,  &c.  At  night  discovered  the  prairie,  on  the 
opposite  side  of  the  river,  to  be  on  fire;  supposed  to  have  been  made 
by  the  Sauteurs  [Ojibways].  I  wished  much  to  have  our  situation  res- 
pectable here,  or  I  would  have  sent  the  next  day,  to  discover  them. 


31st  October,  Thursday. — Enclosed  my  little  work  completely  with 
pickets.  Hauled  up  my  two  boats,  and  turned  them  over  on  each  side 
of  the  gate-ways;  by  which  means  a  defence  was  made  to  the  river,  and 
had  it  not  been  for  various  political  reasons,  I  would  have  laughed  at 
the  attack  of  800  or  1,000  savages,  if  all  my  party  were  within.  For 
except  accidents,  it  would  only  have  afforded  amusement,  the  Indians 
having  no.  idea  of  taking  a  place  by  storm.  *  *  * 

The  foundering  of  one  of  Pike's  pine  log  canoes,  within  an 
hour  after  it  was  launched,  caused  his  personal  baggage  and  his 
principal  stores  of  ammunition  to  be  soaked,  many  of  the  cart- 
ridges being  spoiled. 

November  was  spent  mostly  in  various  hunting  trips.  On 
the  third  day  of  December  a  trader  named  Robert  Dickson  came 
to  Pike's  fort,  as  it  is  called  in  the  journal.  His  trading  post 
was  on  the  Mississippi  below  the  site  of  St.  Cloud,  but  he  also 


ZEBULON  M.  PIKE.  343 

had  a  branch  post  at  Sandy  lake  and  furnished  to  Pike  a  letter 
of  introduction  to  his  agent  there. 

December  10  Pike  started  on  his  journey  to  the  northern 
lakes  and  trading  posts,  accompanied  by  several  of  his  men, 
with  sleds  drawn  by  them  and  a  log  canoe  called  a  peroque. 
They  reached  Crow  Wing  river  on  the  21st,  and  passed  the  site 
of  Brainerd  on  the  27th,  finding  the  river  above  there  mainly 
closed  by  ice.  The  mouth  of  Pine  river  was  passed  on  the  last 
day  of  the  year. 

On  the  third  day  of  January,  1806,  Pike  visited  a  trading 
post  of  an  Englishman  named  Grant,  on  the  lower  Bed  Cedar 
lake,  now  simply  called  Cedar  lake,  lying  about  two  miles  south 
of  the  Mississippi  and  three  miles  southwest  of  the  present  town 
of  Aitkin.  "When  we  came  in  sight  of  his  house,"  wrote  Pike, 
"I  observed  the  flag  of  Great  Britain  flying.  I  felt  indignant, 
and  cannot  say  what  my  feelings  would  have  excited  me  to,  had 
he  not  informed  me  that  it  belonged  to  the  Indians.  This  was 
not  much  more  agreeable  to  me." 

Five  days  later,  Pike  reached  the  trading  post  of  the  North- 
west Company  at  Sandy  lake,  also  under  the  direction  of  Mr. 
Grant,  by  whom  he  and  his  men,  the  latter  arriving  there  on 
the  13th,  were  receiving  with  much  hospitality. 

On  the  20th  of  January,  Pike  and  his  men,  with  their  sleds, 
left  Sandy  lake  on  their  journey  forward  up  the  Mississippi, 
partly  by  the  way  of  the  Willow  river;  on  the  29th  they  reached 
Pokegama  falls;  and  on  the  first  day  of  February  they  reached 
and  crossed  Leech  Lake,  considered  to  be  "the  main  source  of 
the  Mississippi,"  and  came  to  the  trading  post  of  the  Northwest 
Company,  the  headquarters  of  the  company  for  this  upper  Mis- 
sissippi region,  on  a  western  point  of  the  very  irregular  shore 
line. 

After  eleven  days  spent  at  Leech  lake,  Pike  and  one  of  his 
men,  accompanied  by  Hugh  M'Gillis,  who  was  the  general  agent 
for  the  Northwest  Company,  and  two  of  his  employees,  went  for- 
ward on  February  12,  by  a  land  march  reckoned  as  thirty  miles, 
to  the  trading  post  on  the  upper  Eed  Cedar  lake  (now  Cass  lake). 
They  were  very  hospitably  received  by  the  Canadian  trader  in 
charge  of  that  post,  named  Eoy,  and  his  Ojibway  wife. 


344  MINNESOTA   IN   THREE    CENTURIES. 

From  this  farthest  limit  of  the  expedition,  Pike  returned 
on  the  14th  of  February  to  the  main  post  of  the  Northwest 
Company  on  Leech  lake.  Many  Ojibways  had  gathered  there, 
and  the  journal  says,  "The  chiefs  asked  my  permission  to 
dance  the  calumet  dance,  which  I  granted/' 

On  February  7,  during  the  preceding  stay  at  the  Leech 
Lake  post,  Pike  had  addressed  an  official  letter  to  Hugh  M'Gillis, 
"Proprietor  and  agent  of  the  N.  W.  company,"  enjoining  upon 
him,  first,  that  the  future  supplies  of  goods  for  the  company's 
use  should  be  entered  for  payment  of  duties  at  the  United  States 
custom  house  at  Mackinaw;  second,  that  the  English  flag  should 
not  be  hoisted  at  any  trading  post,  but  to  use  only  the  United 
States  flag;  third,  that  the  traders  should  present  no  flag  nor 
medal  to  an  Indian,  nor  hold  councils  with  them  on  political 
subjects,  but  should  refer  them,  on  such  matters,  to  officers  of 
the  United  States;  and,  further,  that  the  officers  of  the  company 
should  furnish  themselves  with  the  United  States  laws  regulat- 
ing commerce  with  the  Indians,  including  restriction  of  trade 
in  liquor,  etc.,  and  should  conform  to  those  requirements. 

In  return,  under  date  of  February  15,  M'Gillis  communi- 
cated to  Pike,  by  an  official  letter,  his  cordial  acceptance  of  the 
regulations  so  imposed  on  the  Northwest  Company. 

The  ensuing  council  and  deliberations  with  the  Ojibways 
are  narrated  thus: 

15th  February,  Saturday. — The  Flat  Mouth,  chief  of  the  Leech 
Lake  village,  and  many  other  Indians  arrived.  Received  a  letter  from 
Mr.  M'Gillis.  Noted  down  the  heads  of  my  speech,  and  had  it  trans- 
lated into  French,  in  order  that  the  interpreter  should  be  perfectly 
master  of  his  subject. 

16th  February,  Sunday. — Held  a  council  with  the  chiefs  and  war- 
riors of  this  place,  and  of  Red  Lake;  but  it  required  much  patience, 
coolness,  and  management  to  obtain  the  objects  I  desired,  viz:  That 
they  should  make  peace  with  the  Sioux;  deliver  up  their  [British] 
medals  and  flags;  and  that  some  of  their  chiefs  should  follow  me  to 
St.  Louis.  As  a  proof  of  their  agreeing  to  the  peace,  I  directed  that 
they  should  smoke  out  of  the  [Sioux  chief]  Wabasha's  pipe,  which  lay 
on  the  table;  they  all  smoked,  from  the  head  chief  to  the  youngest 
soldier;  they  generally  delivered  up  their  flags  with  good  grace;  except 
the  Flat  Mouth,  who  said  he  had  left  both  at  his  camp,  three  days 
march,  and  promised  to  deliver  them  up  to  Mr.  M'Gillis,  to  be  forwarded. 


ZEBULOX  M.   PIKE.  345 

With  respect  to  their  returning  with  me,  the  old  Sweet  [a  chief  from 
Red  lake]  thought  it  most  proper  to  return  to  the  Indians  of  the  Red 
lake,  Red  river,  and  Rainy  Lake  river.  The  Flat  Mouth  said  it  was 
necessary  for  him  to  restrain  his  young  warriors,  &c.  The  other  chiefs 
did  not  think  themselves  of  consequence  sufficient  to  offer  any  reason 
for  not  following  me  to  St.  Louis,  a  journey  of  between  two  and  three 
thousand  miles  through  hostile  tribes  of  Indians.  I  then  told  them 
"that  I  was  sorry  to  find  that  the  hearts  of  the  Sauteurs  of  this  quar- 
ter were  so  weak  that  the  other  nations  would  say,  'What!  are  there 
no  soldiers  at  Leech,  Red,  and  Rainy  Lakes,  who  had  the  hearts  to 
carry  the  calumet  of  their  chief  to  their  father?'  "  This  had  the  desired 
effect.  The  Bucks  and  Beaux,  two  of  the  most  celebrated  young  war- 
riors, rose  and  offered  themselves  to  me  for  the  embassy;  they  were 
accepted,  adopted  as  my  children,  and  I  installed  their  father.  Their 
example  animated  the  others,  and  it  would  have  been  no  difficult  matter 
to  have  taken  a  company;  two  however  were  sufficient.  I  determined 
that  it  should  be  my  care  never  to  make  them  regret  the  noble  confid- 
ence placed  in  me;  for  I  would  have  protected  their  lives  with  my  own. 
The  Beaux  is  brother  to  the  Flat  Mouth.  Gave  my  new  soldiers  a 
dance  and  a  small  dram.  They  attempted  to  get  more  liquor,  but  a 
fiim  and  peremptory  denial  convinced  them  I  was  not  to  be  trifled  with. 
17th  February,  Monday. — The  chief  of  the  land  [a  personal  name,  one 
of  the  Leech  Lake  chiefs]  brought  in  his  flag,  and  delivered  it  up. 
Made  arrangements  to  march  my  party  the  next  day. 

The  returning  route  was  southward  to  Whitefish  lake,  and 
thence  southeastward,  crossing  the  Mississippi,  to  the  trading 
post  hefore  visited  on  Cedar  lake,  where  Pike  arrived  in  the  fore- 
noon of  February  25  and  remained  three  days.  Traveling  thence 
down  the  Mississippi,  he  arrived  on  the  5th  of  March  at  his  post 
or  fort  at  Pike  rapids,  having  been  absent  nearly  three  months 
in  the  northward  journey,  councils  with  the  traders  and  Indians, 
and  the  return.  The  expedition  had  supplemented  the  Treaty  of 
1783  and  the  Louisiana  Purchase.  It  was  the  first  concrete  and 
tangible  bond  uniting  this  area  to  the  national  domain. 

More  than  a  month  following,  until  the  river  should  be 
open  for  the  downward  voyage,  was  spent  by  Pike  and  his  men 
in  hunting  and  in  parleys  with  the  Ojibway  and  Menomonee 
Indians,  the  latter  having  numerous  lodges  within  a  few  hours' 
travel  from  the  Pike  rapids. 

On  April  2  the  ice  began  to  move  on  the  Mississippi  at 
Pike's  fort,  and  four  days  later  the  river  below  was  open.  "In 
the  evening,"  says  the  journal  of  April  6,  "the  men  cleared  out 


346  MINNESOTA   IN   THEEE    CENTURIES. 

their  room  and  danced  to  the  violin,  and  sang  songs  until  11 
o'clock.  So  rejoiced  was  every  heart  at  leaving  this  savage 
wilderness/'  April  7  the  expedition  embarked  for  the  return 
to  St.  Louis. 

The  mouth  of  Rum  river  and  several  Menomonee  lodges  on 
the  Mississippi  a  few  miles  below  were  passed  early  in  the  morn- 
ing of  April  10,  and  the  afternoon  was  spent  in  portaging  past 
the  Falls  of  St.  Anthony.  The  next  day  the  expedition  readied 
Pike  island,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Minnesota  river,  and  again 
camped  there. 

On  or  near  the  contiguous  site  of  Fort  Snelling,  a  large 
company  of  the  neighboring  Sioux  tribes  had  assembled,  await- 
ing Pike's  arrival.  Of  the  council  held  that  evening  in  the  en- 
campment of  the  Sioux  chiefs  and  warriors,  Pike  wrote: 

There  were  about  100  lodges  or  600  people;  we  were  saluted  on  our 
crossing  the  river  with  ball  as  usual.  The  council  house  was  two 
large  lodges,  capable  of  containing  300  men.  In  the  upper  were  40 
chiefs,  and  as  many  pipes,  set  against  the  poles;  along  side  of  which  I 
had  the  Sauteurs'  pipes  arranged.  I  then  informed  them  in  short  detail, 
of  my  transactions  with  the  Sauteurs  [Ojibways] ;  but  my  interpreters 
were  not  capable  of  making  themselves  understood.  *  *  *  The  in- 
terpreters however  informed  them  that  I  wanted  some  of  their  principal 
chiefs  to  go  to  St.  Louis;  and  that  those  who  thought  proper  might 
descend  to  the  prairie  [Prairie  du  Chien]  where  we  would  give  them 
more  explicit  information.  They  all  smoked  out  of  the  Sauteurs'  pipes, 
excepting  three,  who  were  painted  black,  and  were  some  of  those  who 
lost  their  relations  last  winter  [killed  by  Ojibways].  *  *  * 

On  April  12  the  expedition  embarked  early;  passed  the  site 
of  St  Paul,  and  searched  in  vain  for  Carver's  cave;  and,  on 
arriving  at  the  mouth  of  the  St.  Croix,  Pike  held  a  conference 
with  Little  Crow  and  warriors  of  his  band  who  were  awaiting  him. 

The  next  day  Pike  reached  the  site  of  Red  Wing  at  two  in 
the  afternoon,  and  there  held  a  council  with  the  chief  of  this 
name  and  his  band.  Because  ice  still  partly  covered  Lake  Pepin, 
he  remained  a  day  at  Red  Wing's  village,  ascended  the  adjacent 
Barn  bluff,  and  saw  the  grand  view  from  the  top. 

April  15  Pike  and  his  party  passed  through  Lake  Pepin, 
and  three  days  later  reached  Prairie  du  Chien.  There  they  were 
greeted  by  crowds  on  the  river  bank,  and  "received  a  great  deal 
of  news  from  the  States  and  Europe,  both  civil  and  military." 


Chapter  XIV. 

CASS  AND  SCHOOLCRAFT. 

THE  WAE  OF  1812. 

WHEN  war  was  again  declared  between  this  new  nation 
and  the  parent  country  in  1812,  the  British  and  Can- 
adian traders  who  were  agents  of  the  Northwest  Com- 
pany in  the  Northwest  Territory  and  the  northern  part  of  the 
Louisiana  Purchase  allied  themselves  mostly  with  Great  Britain. 
Incited  by  the  traders,  many  of  the  Northwestern  Indians  joined 
them  in  hostilities  against  the  United  States.  Wabasha  and 
Little  Crow,  among  the  Minnesota  Sioux,  were  in  this  number. 

On  July  17,  1812,  the  United  States  garrison  at  Mackinaw 
was  surrendered  to  an  overwhelming  force  of  British  regulars, 
Canadian  traders  and  voyageurs,  and  Sioux,  Ojibway,  Winnebago, 
and  Menomonee  Indians.  Eobert  Dickson,  a  prominent  trader 
on  the  upper  Mississippi  in  the  time  of  Pike's  expedition,  was 
one  of  the  chief  leaders  of  the  Indians;  and  Joseph  Kolette, 
whose  son  of  the  same  name  achieved  renown  in  Minnesota  his- 
tory in  1857,  was  an  officer  of  the  French  Canadian  allies. 

Two  years  later,  Fort  Shelby  at  Prairie  du  Chien,  recently 
built  for  defense  of  the  upper  Mississippi  region,  was  captured 
by  a  British  expedition  from  Mackinaw,  guided  by  Joseph  Ko- 
lette. Of  the  British  force  making  this  attack,  Dr.  Neill  wrote 
in  his  History  of  Minnesota :  "The  captain  was  an  old  trader 
by  the  name  of  McKay,  and  under  him  was  a  sergeant  of  artil- 
lery, with  a  brass  six-pounder,  and  three  or  four  volunteer  com- 
panies of  Canadian  voyageurs,  commanded  by  traders  and  offi- 
cered by  their  clerks,  all  dressed  in  red  coats,  with  a  number  of 
Indians."  The  name  of  this  fort,  after  the  surrender,  was 
changed  to  Fort  McKay  by  the  British. 

347 


348  MINNESOTA    IN    THREE    CENTURIES. 

In  Volume  IX  of  the  Wisconsin  Historical  Society  Collec- 
tions, a  list  of  sixty-seven  Canadian  voyageurs  is  given  (on  page 
262),  who  volunteered  their  services  at  Mackinaw,  June  21, 
1814,  for  this  British  expedition  against  Prairie  clu  Chien,  among 
whom  are  Joseph  Rolette,  Louis  Provencalle,  J.  B.  Faribault, 
and  others  well  known  afterward  as  traders  in  Minnesota;  and 
Lieutenant  Joseph  Renville  is  in  the  list  of  officers  of  the  "In- 
dian Department"  at  Fort  McKay  on  August  24,  1814,  five 
weeks  after  its  capture. 

Peace  was  restored  between  Great  Britain  and  the  United 
States  by  the  Treaty  of  Ghent,  December  24,  1814. 

Relations  of  peace  and  friendship  between  the  Indian  tribes 
of  the  Northwest  and  the  United  States  were  formally  estab- 
lished again,  with  pardon  for  their  participation  in  the  war,  by 
a  series  of  treaties,  each  tribe  or  large  division  of  the  Indians 
being  treated  with  separately,  in  July  and  September,  1815,  at 
Portage  des  Sioux,  between  the  Mississippi  and  Missouri  rivers 
about  ten  miles  above  their  confluence.  Delegations  of  chiefs 
and  warriors  from  the  Sioux  of  the  Lakes  (formerly  living  at 
Mille  Lacs  until  driven  southward  by  the  Ojibways),  the  Sioux 
of  the  St.  Peter's  or  Minnesota  river,  and  the  Yanktons,  made 
respectively  three  treaties  there  on  July  19,  placing  these  Min- 
nesota divisions  of  the  Dakota  nation  "in  all  things,  and  in 
every  respect,  on  the  same  footing  upon  which  they  stood  before 
the  late  war." 

On  the  part  of  the  United  States,  these  treaties  were  made 
by  William  Clark,  of  the  Lewis  and  Clark  expedition,  at  this 
time  governor  of  Missouri  Territory,  which  comprised  the  north- 
ern and  greater  part  of  the  Louisiana  Purchase;  Ninian  Edwards, 
governor  of  Illinois  Territory,  which  was  the  greater  western 
part  of  the  former  Northwest  Territory;  and  Auguste  Chouteau, 
the  foremost  among  the  founders  of  the  city  of  St.  Louis. 

GENERAL  LEWIS  CASS. 

In  1820  two  very  remarkable  men  made  an  expedition,  with 
others  in  their  party,  from  Detroit,  Michigan,  by  the  way  of 


CASS  AND  SCHOOLCRAFT.  349 

Lake  Superior,  to  the  upper  Mississippi  river,  which  they  as- 
cended from  Sandy  lake  to  Cass  lake,  then  called  Bed  Cedar 
lake.  Thence  they  descended  this  river  to  Prairie  du  Chien, 
crossed  to  Lake  Michigan  by  the  route  of  the  Wisconsin  and  Fox 
rivers,  and  returned  to  Detroit.  Cass  is  commemorated  by  the 
name  of  the  lake  on  the  Mississippi  which  was  the  limit  of  the 
expedition.  His  name  is  also  borne  by  a  county  which  extends 
from  Cass,  Winnebagoshish,  and  Leech  lakes,  south  to  the  mouth 
of  the  Crow  Wing  river.  Schoolcraft's  name  is  given  to  an 
island  in  Lake  Itasca,  which  he  reached  by  a  second  expedition, 
in  the  year  1832. 

Lewis  Cass  was  born  in  Exeter,  N.  H.,  October  9,  1782,  and 
died  in  Detroit,  Mich.,  June  17,  1866.  At  the  age  of  eighteen 
years  he  came  to  Marietta,  the  first  town  founded  in  southern 
Ohio,  and  studied  law  there;  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1803, 
and  began  practice  at  Zanesville,  Ohio;  and  was  colonel  and 
later  brigadier  general  in  the  war  of  1812.  He  was  governor  of 
Michigan  Territory,  1813-1831;  secretary  of  war,  in  the  cabinet 
of  President  Jackson,  1831-36,  including  the  time  of  the  Black 
Hawk  war;  minister  to  France,  1836-42;  United  States  senator, 
1845-48;  Democratic  candidate  for  the  presidency  in  the  cam- 
paign of  1848;  again  United  States  senator,  1849-57;  and  sec- 
retary of  state,  in  the  cabinet  of  President  Buchanan,  1857-60. 

Appletons'  Cyclopaedia  of  American  Biography  says:  "Gen- 
eral Cass  was  a  man  of  great  natural  abilities,  a  prudent,  cau- 
tious legislator,  a  scholar  of  fine  attainments,  of  the  purest  in- 
tegrity, temperate  in  all  his  habits,  and  personally  popular 
throughout  the  country." 

HENRY  ROWE   SCHOOLCRAFT. 

The  historian  of  the  expedition  of  1820,  under  the  leader- 
ship of  Cass,  was  Henry  Rowe  Schoolcraft,  who  was  born  in 
Albany  county,  1ST.  Y.,  March  28,  1793,  and  died  in  Washington, 
T>.  C.,  December  10,  1864.  He  was  educated  at  Middlebury  col- 
lege, Vt.,  and  Union  college,  Schenectady,  N.  Y.,  giving  prin- 
cipal attention  to  chemistry  and  mineralogy.  In  1817-18  he 


350  MINNESOTA   IN   THREE    CENTURIES. 

traveled  in  Missouri  and  Arkansas;  in  1820  was  the  mineralogist 
of  this  expedition;  in  1822  was  appointed  the  Indian  agent  for 
the  tribes  in  the  region  of  the  Great  Lakes,  with  headquarters  at 
the  Sault  Ste.  Marie,  and  afterward  at  Mackinaw;  and  in  1832 
he  led  a  government  expedition  to  the  head  of  the  Mississippi 
in  Lake  Itasca,  to  which  he  gave  this  name. 

During  later  years,  Schoolcraft  held  various  official  positions 
connected  with  Indian  affairs;  and  in  1851-57,  under  the  aus- 
pices of  the  United  States  government,  he  published  a  most  ela- 
borate work  in  six  quarto  volumes,  finely  illustrated,  entitled 
"Historical  and  Statistical  Information  respecting  the  History, 
Condition,  and  Prospects  of  the  Indian  Tribes  of  the  United 
States."  He  was  the  author  of  about  thirty  other  books,  in- 
cluding narrations  of  travels,  geologic  observations,  ethnologic 
researches,  collections  of  legends,  and  poems,  mostly  relating  to 
the  Indians. 

EXPEDITION  TO  CASS  LAKE,  1820. 

Although  the  Mississippi  had  probably  been  seen  and  chart- 
ed by  Vespucci  at  its  mouths  in  1498,  during  a  voyage  under 
the  commandership  of  Pinzon  and  Solis,  probably  again  by 
Pineda  in  1519,  coming  into  the  great  river  by  the  way  of  lakes 
Borgne,  Pontchartrain,  and  Maurepas,  the  Amite  river,  and  the 
Bayou  Manchac,  and  later  had  been  seen  in  1528  by  Narvaez  at 
the  mouths  of  the  delta,  and  in  1541  to  1543  by  the  ill-fated  ex- 
pedition of  De  Soto  and  Moscoso,  more  than  a  hundred  years 
afterward  elapsed  before  this  river  was  again  seen  by  Europeans, 
its  next  explorers  being  Groseilliers  and  Radisson  in  1655.  An- 
other century  and  a  half  passed  before  an  important  part  of  its 
headwaters  was  first  explored  and  mapped  by  Pike,  who  still 
left,  however,  the  main  head  stream  and  source  unknown  to  geo- 
graphers. 

To  voyage  along  the  upper  river  and  to  describe  and  map 
its  principal  source  were  motives  for  the  expedition  undertaken 
in  1820  by  Cass.  On  leaving  Detroit,  May  26,  he  was  accom- 
panied by  Schoolcraft,  mineralogist  and  historian;  Dr.  Alex- 


CASS  AND  SCHOOLCEAFT.  351 

ander  Wolcott,  Indian  agent  at  Chicago,  physician  of  the  ex- 
pedition; Captain  David  B.  Douglass,  civil  and  military  en- 
gineer; Lieut.  AEneas  Mackay,  commanding  the  soldiers;  James 
D.  Doty,  secretary  to  the  expedition;  Major  Kobert  A.  Forsyth, 
private  secretary  to  Governor  Cass;  Charles  C.  Trowbridge,  as- 
sistant topographer;  Alexander  E.  Chace;  ten  Canadian  voyag- 
eurs;  seven  United  States  soldiers;  ten  Indians  of  the  Ottawa 
and  Shawnee  tribes;  and  an  interpreter  and  a  guide.  These 
thirty-eight  men  embarked  in  three  canoes,  taking  provisions 
only  for  the  voyage  to  Mackinaw,  the  place  of  principal  outfitting 
of  the  expedition.  The  departure  from  Mackinaw,  with  an  addi- 
tional canoe  and  the  provisions  for  the  long  journey,  was  on 
June  13,  and  the  Sault  Ste.  Marie  was  reached  the  next  day. 

Nineteen  days,  from  June  17  to  July  5,  inclusive,  were 
spent  in  the  voyage  along  the  south  shore  of  Lake  Superior  to 
the  mouth  of  the  St.  Louis  river  at  the  west  end  of  the  lake. 
For  the  farther  journey,  the  large  canoes  were  left  behind,  and 
the  expedition  advanced  on  July  6  from  the  Fond  du  Lac  post 
of  the  American  Fur  Company  with  seven  small  canoes,  passing 
the  long  portages  of  the  St.  Louis  river.  On  July  10  the  party 
was  divided.  Governor  Cass  continued  with  the  canoes  up  the 
St.  Louis  and  East  Savanna  rivers,  and  down  the  West  Savanna 
river,  to  Sandy  lake;  while  Schoolcraft,  Lieutenant  Mackay  with 
eight  soldiers,  Doty,  and  others,  went  overland  to  Sandy  lake 
and  the  trading  post  of  the  American  Fur  Company,  on  its  north 
side,  which  they  reached  on  July  13.  The  canoe  party  arrived 
there  two  days  later.  A  council  was  held  on  July  16  with  the 
Ojibways  of  Sandy  lake,  who  agreed  to  send  a  delegation  of 
their  old  men  to  the  Falls  of  St.  Anthony  with  Cass  upon  his 
return  from  the  upward  journey,  for  a  treaty  of  peace  with  the 
Sioux. 

Leaving  a  part  of  the  men,  canoes,  and  baggage  of  the 
expedition  at  Sandy  lake,  Cass,  Schoolcraft,  Captain  Douglass, 
and  others,  pushed  forward  on  July  17,  and  reached  Pokegama 
falls  in  two  days.  On  July  20  they  entered  Lake  Winne- 
bagoshish,  then  called  Lake  Winnipec;  and  on  the  next  day  came 
to  Bed  Cedar  lake,  which  Schoolcraft  named  Cassina  lake,  in 


352  MINNESOTA   IN    THREE    CENTUEIES. 

honor   of   Governor   Cass,   a  name   afterward   shortened   to    • 
lake. 

While  calling  Eed  Cedar  or  Cass  lake  "the  source  of  the 
Mississippi/'  Schoolcraft  also  described  the  head  stream  of  this 
river  beyond  Cass  lake  and  its  origin  in  Lac  La  Biche  or  Elk 
lake,  which  later  was  named  Lake  Itasca.  In  his  "Narrative 
Journal"  of  this  expedition,  published  in  1821,  he  said: 

This  lake  is  supplied  by  two  inlets  called  Turtle  and  La  Beesh 
rivers,  both  tributary  on  the  northwestern  margin.  *  *  *  La  Beesh 
river  is  the  outlet  of  Lake  La  Beesh,  which  lies  six  days  journey,  with 
a  canoe,  west -north  west  of  Cassina  Lake,  and  has  no  inlets.  A  short 
distance  from  its  shores,  the  waters  run  north  into  the  Red  River  of 
Hudson's  Bay.  Its  outlet  has  several  rapids,  and  expands  into  a  num- 
ber of  intermediate  lakes,  the  largest  of  which  are  lakes  Traverse 
[Bemidji],  Oganga,  and  Kishahoo.  It  also  receives  several  tributaries, 
all  of  which  originate  in  small  lakes.  It  is  only  capable  of  being  as- 
cended in  canoes  during  the  spring  and  autumnal  freshets,  and  then 
there  are  several  portages.  This  branch  is  considered  the  largest  inlet, 
and  preserves,  in  the  language  of  the  voyagonrs,  the  name  of  the 
Mississippi. 

Early  in  the  morning  of  July  22  the  party  started  on  their 
return,  and  arrived  at  Sandy  lake  at  two  o'clock  in  the  after- 
noon of  the  24th.  The  next  day  the  expedition  embarked  at 
noon  with  three  canoes  and  a  barge  for  the  descent  to  the  Falls 
of  St.  Anthony  and  the  newly  established  fort  or  cantonment 
at  the  mouth  of  the  Minnesota  river,  accompanied  by  Ojibway 
envoys  of  peace,  in  another  canoe,  to  meet  the  Sioux  there.  The 
block  house  of  Pike's  winter  quarters  was  passed  on  July  28, 
and  the  Sauk  Rapids  the  next  day;  and  one  day  later  they 
reached  the  garrison  of  Colonel  Leavenworth,  near  the  site  of 
Fort  Snelling.  On  the  first  day  of  August,  a  treaty  of  peace 
was  concluded  between  the  Sioux  and  Ojibways,  in  the  presence 
of  General  Cass,  Colonel  Leavenworth,  and  other  army  officers. 
From  the  extensive  cultivated  lands  of  the  garrison,  the  mem- 
bers of  the  expedition  were  regaled  with  "green  com,  pease, 
beans,  cucumbers,  beets,  radishes,  lettuce,  etc." 

In  proceeding  down  the  Mississippi  on  August  2,  a  halt 
was  made  for  examination  of  Carver's  cave,  in  the  east  part  of 


CASS  AND  SCHOOLCRAFT.  353 

the  present  city  of  St.  Paul,  and  again  four  miles  farther  on,  at 
Little  Crow's  village,  which  consisted  of  twelve  lodges  or  cabins, 
built  of  logs,  with  about  two  hundred  people,  having  adjacent 
cultivated  fields  of  corn,  cucumbers,  and  pumpkins.  A  long 
speech  was  addressed  to  Governor  Cass  by  Little  Crow,  who 
"spoke  with  deliberation,  and  without  that  wild  gesticulation 
which  is  common  among  savages;"  and  the  women  presented 
many  basketfuls  of  green  corn,  of  which  the  voyageurs  accepted 
as  much  as  they  could  store  in  their  canoes.  A  ceremonial  feast 
of  the  Sioux,  in  recognition  of  the  season  of  first  ripening  corn, 
was  in  progress  in  a  large  cabin  with  closed  doors;  but  Cass 
and  Schoolcraft  were  admitted  and  saw  two  large  boiling  kettles 
of  the  green  corn,  cut  from  the  cob,  with  the  Indians  seated 
around  them,  "singing  a  doleful  song  in  the  savage  manner,  ac- 
companied by  the  Indian  drum  and  gourd-rattle." 

The  next  day  they  passed  the  mouth  of  the  St.  Croix,  and 
at  noon  arrived  at  the  village  of  Talangamane  [for  Tatanka- 
mani,  his  Dakota  name,  meaning  Walking  Buffalo],  or  the  Eed 
Wing,  consisting  of  four  large  lodges  and  several  others  smaller, 
built  of  logs  like  those  of  Little  Crow.  Of  this  chief,  Red 
Wing,  and  his  band,  Schoolcraft  wrote: 

Talangamane  is  now  considered  the  first  chief  of  his  nation,  which 
honour  it  is  said  he  enjoys  both  on  account  of  his  superior  age  and 
sagacity.  He  appears  to  be  about  sixty,  and  bears  all  the  marks  of 
that  age.  Very  few  of  his  people  were  at  home,  being  engaged  in 
hunting  or  fishing.  We  observed  several  fine  corn  fields  near  the  vil- 
lage, but  they  subsist  chiefly  by  taking  sturgeon  in  the  neighboring 
lake,  and  by  hunting  the  deer.  The  buffalo  is  also  occasionally  killed, 
but  they  are  obliged  to  go  two  days  journey  west  of  the  Mississippi, 
before  this  animal  is  found  in  plenty. 

In  the  afternoon  the  voyage  down  the  river  was  continued, 
entering  Lake  Pepin,  and  encamping  on  its  eastern  shore,  oppo- 
site to  the  site  of  Lake  City. 

On  the  following  day,  August  4,  the  expedition  made  a 
short  halt  in  the  afternoon  at  the  village  of  the  Sioux  chief 
Wabasha,  on  or  near  the  site  of  Winona,  and  encamped  on  the 
Minnesota  shore  about  five  miles  south  of  Trempealeau,  having 
voyaged  twelve  hours  and  descended  the  river  an  estimated  dis- 

I.-21 


354  MINNESOTA   IN   THREE    CENTURIES. 

tance  of  seventy  miles.  Thence  one  day  more,  August  5,  brought 
them  to  Prairie  du  Chien,  by  rowing  with  the  current  ninety 
miles,  as  was  estimated,  starting  about  three  o'clock  in  the 
morning,  and  reaching  the  Prairie  at  six  in  the  afternoon. 

The  farther  course,  beyond  the  limit  of  Minnesota,  need, 
not  be  traced  here.  On  September  23,  having  cruised  around 
the  shore  of  Lake  Michigan,  Schoolcraft  and  Captain  Douglass 
reached  Detroit  with  the  canoes,  after  an  absence  of  more  than 
three  months,  being  preceded  by  Governor  Cass  and  others  of 
the  party,  who  had  completed  their  journey  by  land,  riding  on 
horseback  from  Chicago. 

EXPEDITION  TO  LAKE  ITASCA,  1832. 

Twelve  years  after  the  expedition  thus  summarized,  School- 
craft  conducted  a  second  exploring  party  to  the  upper  Missis- 
sippi, this  time  reaching  its  source  in  the  lake  called  by  the 
French  voyageurs  Lac  La  Biche,  in  translation  of  its  0  jib  way 
name,  which  in  English  is  Elk  lake. 

The  party  organized  for  this  expedition,  under  orders  of 
the  War  Department,  of  which  Cass  was  then  secretary,  com- 
prised, besides  Schoolcraft,  Dr.  Douglass  Houghton,  who  after- 
ward was  the  state  geologist  of  Michigan;  Lieutenant  James  Al- 
len, of  the  United  States  army,  with  ten  soldiers;  Rev.  William 
T.  Boutwell,  a  Presbyterian  missionary;  George  Johnston,  inter- 
preter; and  twenty  Canadian  voyageurs. 

They  embarked  from  the  Sault  Ste.  Marie  on  June  7,  1832; 
and  reached  the  Fond  du  Lac  post  of  the  American  Fur  Com- 
pany on  Saturday,  June  23.  There  an  Ojibway  named  Ozawin- 
dib,  or  Yellow  Head,  whose  home  was  at  Cass  lake,  was  engaged 
to  accompany  them  and  to  act  as  a  guide  beyond  Cass  lake, 
which  was  reached  on  July  10,  the  route  thus  far  being  the  same 
as  in  the  former  expedition. 

Advancing  up  the  Mississippi  through  Lac  Traverse  (Lake 
Bemidji)  and  up  the  eastern  branch  of  the  river  through  Lake 
Plantagenet  of  Schoolcraft's  map  (now  called  Lake  Marquette), 
and  portaging  across  the  divide  of  land  westward  from  its 
headwaters,  Schoolcraft  and  Allen,  guided  by  Ozawindib,  came 


CASS  AXD  SCHOOLCRAFT.  355 

on  July  13  to  Lac  La  Biche  and  landed  on  its  island,  to  which 
Allen  gave  Schoolcraft's  name.  A  few  trees  were  cut  at  the 
head  of  the  island,  a  flagstaff  was  erected,  a  small  flag  was 
hoisted  and  left,  and  the  party  on  the  same  day  began  their 
canoe  voyage  of  return  down  the  Mississippi.  They  reached 
Cass  lake  July  15,  where  others  of  the  party  had  spent  five  days 
resting.  On  July  16,  as  Allen  wrote  in  his  report  to  the  War 
Department,  "Mr.  Schoolcraft  held  a  council  with  the  Indians 
of  this  band,  and  constituted  the  Indian  Yellow  Head  a  chief 
by  presenting  him  with  a  large  medal,  the  emblem  of  his  au- 
thority." 

Thence  the  expedition  traveled  south,  by  a  canoe  route  with 
portages,  to  Leech,  lake  and  through  a  series  of  many  small 
lakes  and  the  connecting  streams  to  the  Crow  Wing  river,  down 
this  river  to  its  mouth,  and  down  the  Mississippi,  arriving  on 
July  24  at  Fort  Snelling.  The  farther  route,  returning  to  Lake 
Superior,  was  by  way  of  the  Mississippi,  St.  Croix,  and  Brule 
rivers. 

No  explanation  of  the  origin  and  meaning  of  the  name 
Itasca  was  given  by  Schoolcraft  in  his  narrative  of  this  expedi- 
tion published  in  1834;  but  in  his  later  book,  on  the  Cass  ex- 
pedition of  1820  and  this  of  1832,  published  in  1855,  the  follow- 
ing statement  is  made  on  page  243 : 

I  inquired  of  Ozawindib  the  Indian  name  of  this  lake;  he  replied 
Omushkb's,  which  is  the  Chippewa  name  of  the  Elk.  Having  previously 
got  an  inkling  of  some  of  their  mythological  and  necromantic  notions 
of  the  origin  and  mutations  of  the  country,  which  permitted  the  use  of 
a  female  name  for  it,  I  denominated  it  Itasca. 

The  existence  of  this  lake,  and  its  French  name,  Lac  La 
Biche,  became  known  to  Schoolcraft  in  1820,  during  the  earlier 
expedition;  and  he  was  doubtless  impellel  by  this  knowledge  to 
make  the  second  journey,  so  that  he  might  publish  the  earliest 
description  of  the  extreme  source  of  the  great  river.  The  actual 
history  of  his  coining  this  new  word,  Itasca,  as  narrated  fifty 
years  afterward  by  his  companion  in  the  expedition,  Eev.  Wil- 
liam T.  Boutwell,  was  told  by  Hon.  J.  V.  Brower  in  the  Min- 
nesota Historical  Society  Collections  (Volume  VII,  1893,  pages 
144,  145)  as  follows: 


356  MINNESOTA   IN   THREE    CENTURIES. 

Schoolcraft  and  Boutwell  were  personal  associates,  voyaging  in  the 
same  canoe  through  Superior,  and  while  conversing  on  their  travels 
along  the  south  shore  of  the  great  lake,  the  name  "Itasca"  was  selected 
in  the  following  manner,  in  advance  of  its  discovery  by  Schoolcraft's 
party. 

Mr.  Schoolcraft,  having  uppermost  in  his  mind  the  source  of  the 
river,  expecting  and  determined  to  reach  it,  suddenly  turned  and  askeil 
Mr.  Boutwell  for  the  Greek  and  Latin  definition  of  the  headwaters  or 
true  source  of  a  river.  Mr.  Boutwell,  after  much  thought,  could  not 
rally  his  memory  of  Greek  sufficiently  to  designate  the  phrase,  but  in 
Latin  selected  the  strongest  and  most  pointed  expressions,  "Veritas," 
and  "Caput," — Truth,  Head.  This  was  written  on  a  slip  of  paper,  and 
Mr.  Schoolcraft  struck  out  the  first  and  last  three  letters,  and  announced 
to  Mr.  Boutwell  that  "Itasca  shall  be  the  name." 

This  expedition,  supplementing  the  explorations  of  Pike, 
Cass,  and  Beltrami,  in  search  of  the  sources  of  the  Mississippi, 
completed  the  progress  of  discovery  of  this  river,  which  had  re- 
quired more  than  three  hundred  years.  What  the  Indians  told 
to  Le  Sueur  and  Charleville,  that  the  great  river  has  its  begin- 
ning in  many  small  streams,  was  verified. 

With  the  founding  of  the  fort,  in  1819-20,  which  at  first 
was  called  Fort  St.  Anthony  and  later  Fort  Snelling,  a  new  era 
of  Minnesota  history  began.  If  we  regard  our  entire  history, 
like  that  of  the  Old  World,  as  divisible  into  three  parts,  ancient, 
medieval,  and  modern,  the  first  would  comprise  the  period  of 
French  discovery  and  domination,  extending  through  a  hundred 
and  eight  years,  from  1655  to  1763,  terminating  when  France 
ceded  all  her  North  American  possessions  to  England  and  Spain  j 
the  second  would  be  the  period  of  the  early  English-speaking  ex- 
plorers and  pioneer  fur  traders,  Captain  Jonathan  Carver,  the 
elder  Alexander  Henry,  and  many  who  followed  them;  and  the 
last  or  modern  era  would  date  from  the  building  of  Fort  Snell- 
ing and  the  coming  of  the  first  agricultural  settlers  to  its  vi- 
cinity, in  1827,  immigrants  from  the  Selkirk  Settlement. 

Measured  by  years,  our  ancient  history  much  exceeded  either 
the  medieval  or  the  modern.  But  the  last  will  continue  through 
centuries  whose  achievements  will  very  far  surpass  those  of  the 
past  or  the  present  time. 


Chapter  XV. 
LONG,  KEATING,  AND  BELTRAMI. 

THE  purchase  of  Louisiana  and  the  prospective  develop- 
ment of  the  Northwest  had  led  to  the  treaty  by  Pike 
with  the  Sioux  in  1805,  securing  for  the  United  States 
sites  at  the  mouths  of  the  St.  Croix  and  Minnesota  rivers,  one 
or  the  other  to  be  later  selected  for  building  a  frontier  fort. 
Within  the  decade  following  Pike's  expedition,  the  war  with 
England  prevented  the  western  extension  of  army  posts;  but 
soon  after  the  close  of  that  war,  for  decision  upon  the  merits  of 
these  two  sites,  a  voyage  of  reconnaissance  was  made  by  Major 
Stephen  H.  Long,  in  1817,  ascending  the  Mississippi  with  a 
skiff  to  the  Falls  of  St.  Anthony.  Two  years  later,  Lieut.  Col. 
Henry  Leavenworth  came  with  a  detachment  of  troops;  during 
the  next  five  years  the  fort  was  built  on  the  projecting  point  of 
the  river  bluff  at  the  upper  side  of  the  mouth  of  the  Minnesota 
river;  and  in  1824,  on  the  recommendation  of  General  Win- 
field  Scott,  who  then  visited  the  fort,  its  name  was  changed 
from  St.  Anthony  to  Snelling,  in  honor  of  Colonel  Josiah  Snell- 
ing,  its  builder  and  commander. 

In  accordance  with  orders  from  the  War  Department,  an 
expedition  under  the  command  of  Major  Long,  with  a  corps  of 
scientists  for  observations  of  the  geographic  features,  geology, 
zoology,  and  botany  of  the  Northwest,  traversed  the  area  of 
Minnesota  in  1823,  passing  from  this  fort  up  the  Minnesota 
valley,  down  the  valley  of  the  Red  river  to  Lake  Winnipeg, 
thence  up  the  Winnipeg  river  to  the  Lake  of  the  Woods,  and 

b57 


358  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTUEIES. 

thence  eastward  along  the  international  boundary  and  partly  in 
Canada  to  Lake  Superior.  Prof.  William  H.  Keating,  of  the 
University  of  Pennsylvania,  was  the  geologist  and  historian  of 
this  expedition.  One  of  its  members,  or  its  guest,  in  the 
travel  from  the  fort  to  Pembina,  was  Costantino  Beltrami,  a 
political  exile  from  Italy;  but,  becoming  offended,  he  left  the 
expedition  at  Pembina  and  returned  to  the  fort  by  the  way  of 
Red  lake  and  the  most  northern  sources  of  the  Mississippi, 
traveling  alone  or  with  Indian  companions. 

MAJOR  STEPHEN  H.  LONG. 

Stephen  Harriman  Long  was  born  in  Hopkinton,  N.  H., 
December  30,  1784;  and  died  in  Alton,  111.,  September  4,  1864. 
He  was  graduated  at  Dartmouth  College  in  1809;  entered  the 
army  in  1814  as  a  lieutenant  of  engineers;  was  assistant  profes- 
sor of  mathematics  at  West  Point,  until  his  promotion,  in  1816, 
as  brevet  major  of  topographical  engineers;  had  charge  of  ex- 
plorations west  and  north  of  the  Mississippi  river,  1818-24;  en- 
gaged in  surveys  of  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  railroad,  1827-30, 
and  of  the  Western  and  Atlantic  railroad  in  Georgia,  1837-40; 
became  chief  of  topographical  engineers  in  1861,  with  rank  of 
colonel;  and  retired  from  active  service  in  1863. 

Major  Long  was  in  command  of  an  expedition  from  Pitts- 
burgh to  the  Rocky  mountains  in  1819-20,  of  which  an  account 
compiled  by  Edwin  James,  botanist  and  geologist  for  the  ex- 
pedition, was  published,  in  two  volumes  and  an  atlas,  at  Phila- 
delphia in  1823.  During  the  same  year  another  edition  of  this 
work,  in  three  volumes,  was  issued  in  London.  A  reprint  of 
the  London  edition  has  been  recently  published,  in  1905,  as 
Volumes  XIV  to  XVII  of  "Early  Western  Travels,"  edited 
with  notes,  introduction,  index,  etc.,  by  Dr.  Reuben  Gold 
Thwaites,  secretary  of  the  State  Historical  Society  of  Wisconsin. 
One  of  the  most  prominent  summits  of  the  Rocky  mountains, 
about  forty-five  miles  northwest  of  Denver,  designated  on  the 
map  of  the  London  edition  and  its  reprint  with  the  name  "High- 
est Peak,"  has  since  been  called  Long's  Peak. 


STEPHEN   H.   LONG. 


LONG,  KEATING,  AND  BELTEAMI.  359 

The  two  northern  expeditions  of  Long,  to  the  Falls  of  St. 
Anthony  in  1817  and  six  years  afterward  to  the  Minnesota  and 
Eed  rivers  and  Lake  Winnipeg,  are  narrated  very  concisely  in 
the  later  pages  of  this  chapter,  with  bibliographic  references  of 
their  full  publication. 

PROF.   WILLIAM   H.   KEATING. 

William  Hypolitus  Keating  was  born  in  Wilmington,  Del., 
August  11,  1799;  and  died  in  London,  England,  May  17,  1840. 
His  father,  Baron  John  Keating,  was  a  colonel  in  the  French 
army,  but  resigned  his  commission  at  the  beginning  of  the  Re- 
volution and  came  to  this  country,  settling  in  Delaware,  and 
later  removed  to  Philadelphia.  The  son  William  was  graduated 
at  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  in  1816,  and  afterward  stud- 
ied in  polytechnic  and  mining  schools  of  France  and  Switzerland. 
Returning  to  Philadelphia,  he  was  elected  to  the  newly  estab- 
lished professorship  of  mineralogy  and  chemistry,  as  applied  to 
the  arts,  in  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  which  position  he 
held  from  1822  to  1828.  He  became  a  member  of  the  American 
Philosophical  Society  in  1822,  and  two  years  later  was  in- 
fluential in  the  founding  of  the  Franklin  Institute  of  Philadel- 
phia, in  which  he  was  professor  of  chemistry.  He  also  read  law, 
was  admitted  to  the  bar,  and  was  in  successful  practice,  when 
he  was  commissioned  to  negotiate  the  first  mortgage  loan  of  the 
Reading  railroad  company,  visited  England,  and  died  there. 
The  service  of  Professor  Keating  in  Long's  expedition  of  1823, 
and  his  publication  of  its  narrative  and  scientific  results,  will  be 
noted  in  the  following  pages. 

COSTANTINO  BELTRAMI. 

Perhaps  the  most  picturesque  and  unique  figure  in  the  series 
of  many  explorers  of  the  area  of  Minnesota  was  Giacomo  Cos- 
tantino  Beltrami,  the  Italian  discoverer  of  the  most  northern 
lakes  and  river  among  the  several  or  many  reported  by  the  In- 
dians as  sources  of  the  Mississippi.  Anglicized,  his  name  was 


360  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 

James  Constantine,  and  on  the  title-page  of  his  published  works, 
relating  his  travels,  it  is  given  by  initials  as  J.  C.  Beltrami. 
Excepting  David  Thompson  in  1798,  he  was  the  first  explorer 
to  supply  descriptions  of  Red  and  Turtle  lakes,  though  un- 
doubtedly they  had  been  previously  visited  by  roving  traders  and 
their  canoe  voyageurs. 

Beltrami  was  born  at  Bergamo,  Italy,  in  1779,  being  the 
youngest  in  a  family  of  ten  children.  His  father,  who  was  a 
customs  officer  of  the  Venetian  republic,  advised  him  to  the 
profession  of  the  law,  and  he  acquired  a  liberal  education,  in- 
cluding proficiency  in  Latin  and  Greek  and  in  the  modern  lan- 
guages. He  held  numerous  official  positions  as  a  chancellor 
and  a  judge;  but  in  1821,  being  accused  of  implication  in  car- 
bonarism,  or  plots  to  establish  an  Italian  republic,  he  was  ex- 
iled. 

After  traveling  in  France,  Germany,  and  England,  Bieltrami 
sailed  from  Liverpool  to  Philadelphia,  and  arrived  there  Feb- 
ruary 21,  1823,  by  a  stormy  voyage  of  nearly  sixteen  weeks. 
About  a  month  later  he  reached  Pittsburgh,  there  made  the  ac- 
quaintance of  Lawrence  Taliaferro,  and  traveled  with  him  by 
steamboat  down  the  Ohio  and  up  the  Mississippi,  coming  on 
May  10  to  the  fort  at  the  mouth  of  the  Minnesota  river  by  the 
steamer  Virginia,  the  first  ascending  the  Mississippi  to  that 
point. 

Subsequent  to  his  travels  in  Minnesota,  the  next  winter 
was  spent  by  Beltrami  in  New  Orleans,  where  he  published  his 
narration  in  1824,  written  in  French,  bearing  a  title  which  in 
English  would  be  "The  Discovery  of  the  Sources  of  the  Mis- 
.sissippi  and  of  the  Bloody  River."  He  next  traveled  exten- 
sively in  Mexico,  crossing  the  country  from  east  to  west,  and.  in 
1826  or  1827  returned  from  the  United  States  to  London.  In 
1828  he  published  in  London  his  most  celebrated  work,  in  two 
volumes,  entitled  "A  Pilgrimage  in  Europe  and  America,  lead- 
ing to  the  Discovery  of  the  Sources  of  the  Mississippi  and  Bloody 
River;  with  a  Description  of  the  Whole  Course  of  the  former 
and  of  the  Ohio."  Two  years  later,  in  Paris,  he  published  two 
volumes  describing  Mexico. 


LONG,  KEATING,  AND  BELTRAMI.  361 

During  his  later  years,  until  1850,  he  resided  in  various 
cities  of  France,  Germany,  Austria,  and  Italy;  and  his  last  five 
years  were  spent  on  his  land  estate  at  Filotrano,  near  Macerata, 
Italy,  where  he  died  in  February,  1855,  at  the  age  of  seventy- 
five  years. 

The  city  of  Bergamo,  the  birthplace  of  Beltrami,  in  1865 
published  a  volume  of  134  pages  commemorating  his  life  and 
work,  dedicated  to  the  Minnesota  Historical  Society.  In  trans- 
lation from  this  book,  Alfred  J.  Hill,  of  St.  Paul,  presented  in 
the  second  volume  of  this  society's  Historical  Collections  a  bio- 
graphic sketch  of  Beltrami,  together  with  a  communication  from 
Major  Taliaferro,  giving  reminiscences  of  him.  The  latter 
wrote : 

Beltrami  was  six  feet  high,  of  commanding  appearance  and  some 
forty-five  years  of  age;  proud  of  bearing,  and  quick  of  temper,  high 
spirited,  but  always  the  gentleman.  He  expressed  an  earnest  wish  to 
explore  the  sources  of  the  Mississippi.  I  gave  him  a  passport  to  go 
where  he  pleased,  and  instructed  the  Chippewas  of  Otter  Tail  and  other 
lakes,  to  see  him  safely  through  their  country,  should  be  seek  assis- 
tance. Shortly  after  this  desire  Maj.  Long,  of  the  Topographical  En- 
gineers, with  his  corps,  arrived.  Beltrami  was  introduced  to  Maj.  L. 
and  permission  granted  Mr.  B.  to  accompany  the  party  to  Pembina. 
At  Pembina,  a  difficulty  occurred  between  Maj.  Long  and  Beltramj, 
when  the  latter  sold  his  horse  (my  horse)  and  equipments,  and  in 
company  with  a  half-breed  passed  near  the  line  of  49  degrees  to  the 
sources  of  the  Mississippi.  His  sufferings  were  of  no  agreeable  nature. 
Here,  near  Leech  lake,  he  fell  in  with  a  sub-chief,  the  "Cloudy  Weather," 
most  fortunately,  who  knew  Mr.  B.,  having  seen  him  in  one  of  my 
councils  at  the  agency.  This  old  man  was  given,  by  signs,  to  know 
that  white  man  wanted  to  descend  the  river.  The  chief  took  our 
Italian  friend  in  his  canoe,  and  turned  down  stream.  Indians  are 
proverbially  slow,  hunting  and  fishing  on  the  way;  Beltrami  lost  all 
patience,  abused  his  Indian  crew,  made  many  menaces,  etc.  The 
"Cloud"  tapped  him  on  the  hat  with  his  pipe  stem,  as  much  as  to 
say,  "I  will  take  you  to  my  father  safe,  if  you  will  be  still."  The  old 
chief  told  of  this  temper  of  my  friend,  but  Mr.  B.  never  made  allusion 
to  it,  but  was  very  grateful  to  his  kind  Pillager  [Ojibway]  friends. 

Another  memorial  book,  of  144  pages,  in  honor  of  Beltrami, 
was  published  in  1902  at  Florence  by  his  grandniece,  Eugenia 
Masi.  He  is  also  commemorated  by  a  large  county  of  northern 


362  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 

Minnesota,  comprising  Red  lake  and  Turtle  lake  and  river 
tablished  and  named  Beltrami  county  by  the  state  legislature  in 
1866;  and  by  a  former  large  island  of  the  Glacial  Lake  Agassiz, 
which  the  present  writer  in  1893  named  Beltrami  island. 

JOURNEY  OF  LONG  TO  THE  FALLS  OF  ST.  ANTHONY, 

1817. 

In  the  summer  of  1817  the  War  Department  sent  Major 
Long  to  examine  sites  on  the  Wisconsin  and  upper  Mississippi 
rivers,  where  forts  might  be  built,  and  to  make  detailed  plats  of 
Fort  Crawford,  already  built  at  Prairie  du  Chien,  near  the 
mouth  of  the  Wisconsin  river,  of  Fort  Armstrong,  on  the  Rock 
Island  of  the  Mississippi,  and  of  Fort  Edwards,  on  the  east  side 
of  this  river  three  miles  below  the  Des  Moines  rapids.  He  made 
the  journey  with  a  six-oared  skiff  presented  to  him  for  this 
purpose  by  William  Clark,  governor  of  Missouri  Territory,  which 
reached  to  the  British  line.  It  was  not  till  the  next  year  that 
the  Webster-Ashburton  Treaty  definitely  placed  that  boundary 
on  the  49th  parallel. 

Long  ascended  the  Wisconsin  river  to  the  much  frequented 
portage  of  the  Indians  and  white  traders,  adjoining  the  site  of 
the  present  city  of  Portage,  Wis.,  on  the  canoe  route  to  the  Fox 
river  and  Green  bay.  Returning  thence  down  the  Wisconsin  to 
the  Mississippi,  he  began  on  July  9  the  voyage  up  the  great 
river  above  Prairie  du  Chien. 

A  week  later,  on  the  morning  of  Wednesday,  July  16,  the 
party  breakfasted  at  Carver's  cave;  stopped  a  few  miles  farther 
on  at  the  Fountain  cave,  in  the  west  part  of  the  city  area  of  St. 
Paul,  pronounced  "far  more  curious  and  interesting,"  and  said 
to  have  been  unknown  by  the  Indians  until  within  six  years; 
arrived  at  the  mouth  of  the  St.  Peter's  (Minnesota)  river  at 
two  o'clock,  and  stopped  to  eat  dinner  there;  and  by  hard  work 
in  rowing,  poling,  sailing  with  a  strong  wind  to  aid,  and  partly 
by  towing,  the  skiff  was  brought  up  at  evening  to  a  landing  on 
the  eastern  shore  about  three  quarters  of  a  mile  below  the  cat- 
nract  of  St.  Anthony,  where  they  encamped,  near  the  site  of 


LONG,  KEATING,  AND  BELTRAML  363 

the  State  University.  The  view  from  this  place  was  enthusias- 
tically described  in  Long's  journal,  as  "the  most  interesting  and 
magnificent"  that  he  had  ever  seen. 

Late  in  the  forenoon  of  the  next  day,  Long  and  his  boat 
party  began  their  return  down  the  Mississippi.  Two  or  three 
hours  were  spent  in  examining  the  vicinity  of  the  mouth  of  the 
Minnesota  river,  of  which  Long  wrote:  "A  military  work  of 
considerable  magnitude  might  be  constructed  on  the  point  [be- 
neath where  Fort  Snelling  afterward  was  built],  and  might  be 
rendered  sufficiently  secure  by  occupying  the  commanding  height 
in  the  rear  in  a  suitable  manner,  as  the  latter  would  control  not 
only  the  point,  but  all  the  neighboring  heights,  to  the  full  ex- 
tent of  a  twelve-pounder's  range.  The  work  on  the  point  would 
be  necessary  to  control  the  navigation  of  the  two '  rivers." 

The  next  day,  on  July  18,  Long  similarly  examined  the 
country  adjoining  the  mouth  of  the  St.  Croix,  in  relation  to  its 
advantages  for  a  military  post. 

His  stock  of  provisions  was  already  nearly  exhausted,  and 
therefore  a  delay  through  the  afternoon  was  allowed  at  the 
village  of  the  old  Sioux  chief  Eed  Wing,  for  catching  fish,  and 
Long  ascended  the  Barn  bluff,  called  by  its  French  name  of  the 
Grange  in  his  journal.  He  wrote:  "From  the  summit  of  the 
Grange  the  view  of  the  surrounding  scenery  is  surpassed,  per- 
haps, by  very  few,  if  any,  of  a  similar  character  that  the  coun- 
try and  probably  the  world  can  afford.  The  sublime  and  beauti- 
ful are  here  blended  in  the  most  enchanting  manner,  while  the 
prospect  has  very  little  to  terrify  or  shock  the  imagination." 

Lake  Pepin  was  passed  with  some  trouble  from  a  gale. 
On  July  20  a  delay  was  taken  for  ascent  of  a  conspicuous  part 
of  the  western  river  bluff,  near  the  site  of  Richmond  in  Winona 
county,  which  was  reputed  to  be  the  highest  point  on  the  Mis- 
sissippi; but  from  its  top  the  neighboring  parts  of  the  bluffs, 
and  the  country  extending  thence  away  from  the  deeply  eroded 
valley,  were  seen  to  have  nearly  the  same  height. 

Prairie  du  Chien  was  reached  in  the  evening  of  July  21, 
thirteen  days  having  been  occupied  in  the  round  trip  to  and 
from  the  Falls  of  St.  Anthony,  for  reconnaissance  of  the  site  to 


364  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 

be  fortified  within  a  few  years  as  the  most  northwestern  post  of 
the  United  States  army. 

The  journal  written  by  Major  Long  on  this  voyage  and  in 
its  continuation  down  the  Mississippi,  with  notes  on  the  surveys 
of  Forts  Crawford,  Armstrong,  and  Edwards,  first  published 
by  the  Minnesota  Historical  Society  in  1860  and  reprinted  in 
1889,  forms  pages  7-83  in  its  second  volume  of  Historical  Col- 
lections. In  the  next  five  pages  Alfred  J.  Hill  contributed  a 
sketch  map,  topographic  notes,  and  a  table  of  distances,  com- 
paring the  estimated  distances  of  Long  with  exact  determinations 
from  the  United  States  land  surveys. 

EXPEDITION  TO  LAKE  WINNIPEG,  1823. 

The  far  northern  expedition  of  Major  Long  was  made  in 
accordance  with  an  order  of  the  War  Department  dated  April  25, 
1823,  which  defined  the  route  and  object  thus: 

The  route  of  the  expedition  will  be  as  follows:  commencing  at 
Philadelphia,  thence  proceeding  to  Wheeling  in  Virginia,  thence  to 
Chicago  via  Fort  Wayne,  thence  to  Fort  Armstrong  on  Dubuque's  Lead 
Mines,  thence  up  the  Mississippi  to  Fort  St.  Anthony,  thence  to  the 
source  of  the  St.  Peter's  River,  thence  to  the  point  of  intersection  be- 
tween Red  River  and  the  forty -ninth  degree  of  north  latitude,  thence 
along  the  northern  boundary  of  the  United  States  to  Lake  Supeif.or, 
and  thence  homeward  by  the  Lakes. 

The  object  of  the  expedition  is  to  make  a  general  survey  of  the 
country  on  the  route  pointed  out,  together  with  a  topographical  des- 
cription of  the  same,  to  ascertain  the  latitude  and  longitude  of  all  the 
remarkable  points,  to  examine  and  describe  its  productions,  animal, 
vegetable,  and  mineral;  and  to  inquire  into  the  character,  customs,  £c., 
of  the  Indian  tribes  inhabiting  the  same. 

On  the  last  day  of  April  the  party  left  Philadelphia.  It 
consisted  of  Major  Long,  in  command;  Thomas  Say,  zoologist 
and  antiquary;  William  H.  Keating,  mineralogist  and  geolo- 
gist; and  Samuel  Seymour,  landscape  painter.  Say  and  Keating 
were  jointly  commissioned  as  journalists  and  ethnologists  of 
the  expedition.  James  E.  Colhoun,  astronomer  and  assistant 
topographer,  joined  the  party  at  Columbus,  Ohio,  on  May  20. 


LONG,  KEATING,  AND  BELTKAML  365 

They  reached  Fort  Dearborn,  on  the  site  of  Chicago,  June  5, 
and  were  very  unfavorably  impressed  by  that  place  and  the  ad- 
joining country.  Their  prospects  for  commerce  and  for  agri- 
culture were  disparaged,  probably  more  emphatically  because  the 
soil  and  climate  had  been  highly  praised  three  years  before  by 
Schoolcraft,  so  that  Long  and  Keating  thought  immigrants 
likely  to  be  deceived  and  induced  to  come  there  with  high  hopes 
doomed  to  disappointment. 

The  expedition  left  Chicago  on  June  11,  and  in  eight  days 
reached  Prairie  du  Chien,  where  they  remained  five  days,  till 
June  24.  They  thence  went  forward  reinforced  -by  an  escort 
of  ten  soldiers,  under  the  command  of  Lieutenant  Martin  Scott, 
of  the  Fifth  Regiment,  TJ.  S.  Infantry.  Long  also  there  se- 
cured the  service  of  a  half-breed  Sioux  interpreter  named  Au- 
gustin  Eoque. 

At  Prairie  du  Chien  the  party  was  divided  by  Major  Long, 
for  the  journey  thence  to  the  fort  at  the  mouth  of  the  Minnesota 
river,  himself  and  Colhoun  going  on  horseback  along  the  west 
side  of  the  river  and  across  the  adjoining  country,  with  atten- 
dants and  a  Sioux  guide,  while  the  others  voyaged  up  the  river. 
The  land  party  crossed  the  Root  river  in  the  morning  of  June 
28,  and  at  evening  came  to  the  village  of  the  Sioux  chief  Wa- 
basha,  on  or  near  the  site  of  the  city  of  Winona.  From  the 
notes  of  Long  and  Colhoun,  the  following  description  was  writ- 
ten by  Keating: 

*  *  *  an  Indian  village,  consisting  of  twenty  fixed  lodges  and 
cabins.  It  is  controlled  by  Wapasha,  an  Indian  chief  of  considerable 
distinction.  In  his  language  (Dacota),  his  name  signifies  the  red  leaf. 
A  number  of  young  men,  fantastically  decorated  with  many  and  va- 
riously coloured  feathers,  and  their  faces  as  oddly  painted,  advanced 
to  greet  the  party.  One  of  them,  the  son  of  the  chief,  was  remark- 
able for  the  gaudiness  and  display  of  his  dress,  which,  from  its  showy 
appearance,  imparted  to  him  a  character  of  foppishness.  In  his  hair 
he  wore  two  or  three  soldiers'  plumes;  his  moccasins  of  stained  buck- 
skin were  tastefully  puckered  at  the  toes,  and  his  breech-cloth  was 
quite  tawdry.  The  chief  is  about  fifty  years  of  age,  but  appears 
older;  his  prominent  features  are  good,  and  indicative  of  great  acute- 
ness  and  of  a  prying  disposition;  his  stature  is  low;  he  has  long  been 
one  of  the  most  influential  of  the  Dacota  Indians,  more  perhaps  from 


366  MINNESOTA  IN  THHKK  CENTURIES. 

his  talents  in  the  counsel  than  his  achievements  in  the  field.  He  is 
represented  ns  being  a  wise  and  prudent  man,  a  forcible  and  impres- 
sive orator. 

On  the  evening  of  June  30,  Major  Long  arrived  at  the 
village  of  the  chief  Eed  Wing,  then  called  Shakea;  and  in  the 
next  forenoon  the  boat  party  arrived  there.  By  invitation  of 
Shakea,  a  ceremonious  council  was  held  in  his  cabin,  over  which 
he  hoisted  the  United  States  flag.  Being  shown  the  map  of  the 
upper  Mississippi  region  used  for  the  expedition,  the  Indians 
readily  understood  it,  traced  and  named  its  rivers,  and  one  of 
them  'laid  his  finger  upon  the  Falls  of  St.  Anthony,  which  he 
called  Hahawotepa." 

On  the  afternoon  of  July  1,  Major  Long's  party  continued 
their  journey  by  land,  and  reached  the  Fort  St.  Anthony  (Snell- 
ing)  at  evening  of  the  next  day. 

The  larger  number,  Say,  Keating,  Seymour,  the  military 
escort,  and  the  interpreter,  went  forward  with  their  eight-oar 
barge,  which  could  be  provided  with  a  sail  when  the  wind  fav- 
ored. On  July  2  this  party  stopped  a  few  minutes  to  examine 
the  Red  Rock,  near  the  east  shore  of  the  river,  "held  in  high 
veneration  by  the  Indians;  on  account  of  the  red  pigment  with 
which  it  is  bedawbed,  it  is  generally  called  the  painted  stone. 
*  *  *  It  is  a  fragment  [a  boulder]  of  sienite,  which  is  about 
four  and  a  half  feet  in  diameter." 

The  Indian  cemetery  on  Dayton's  bluff,  and  the  village  of 
Little  Crow,  then  situated  at  or  near  the  eastern  part  of  the 
site  of  the  principal  railway  yards  in  St.  Paul,  east  of  the  pres- 
ent union  depot,  were  seen  and  described  by  Keating  as  follows: 

The  party  landed  at  a  short  distance  above,  to  visit  the  cemetery 
of  an  Indian  village,  then  in  sight.  The  cemetery  is  on  the  banks  of 
the  river,  but  elevated  above  the  water's  level;  it  exhibits  several  scaf- 
folds, supporting  coffins  of  the  rudest  form;  sometimes  a  trunk  (pur- 
chased from  a  trader),  at  other  times  a  blanket,  or  a  roll  of  bark, 
conceals  the  body  of  the  deceased.  There  were,  also,  several  graves, 
in  which  are  probably  deposited  the  bones,  after  all  the  softer  parts 
have  been  resolved  into  their  elements  by  long  exposure  to  the  atmos- 
phere. Returning  to  the  boat,  the  party  ascended  and  passed  an  In- 
dian village,  consisting  of  ten  or  twelve  huts,  situated  at  a  handsome 


LOXG,  KEATIXC.   AXD  BELTEAMI.  367 

turn,  on  the  river,  about  ten  miles  below  the  mouth  of  the  St.  Peter; 
the  village  is  generally  known  by  the  name  of  the  Petit  Corbeau,  or 
Little  Raven,  which  was  the  appellation  of  the  father  and  grandfather 
of  the  present  chief.  He  is  called  Chetan-wakoamane  (the  good  spar- 
row-hunter). The  Indians  designate  this  band  by  the  name  of  Kapoja, 
•which  implies  that  they  are  deemed  lighter  and  more  active  than  the 
rest  of  the  nation.  As  the  village  was  abandoned  for  the  season,  we 
proceeded  without  stopping.  The  houses  which  we  saw  here  were  dif- 
ferently constructed  from  those  which  we  had  previously  observed. 
They  are  formed  by  upright  flattened  posts,  implanted  in  the  ground, 
without  any  interval,  except  here  and  there  some  small  loopholes  for 
defence;  these  posts  support  the  roof,  which  presents  a  surface  of 
bark.  Before  and  behind  each  hut  there  is  a  scaffold,  used  for  the 
purpose  of  drying  maize,  pumpkins,  &c.  The  present  chief  is  a  good 
warrior,  an  artful,  cunning  man,  remarkable  among  the  Indians  for  his 
wit,  and,  as  is  said,  for  his  courtesy  to  white  men,  endeavouring,  as 
far  as  he  can,  in  his  intercourse  with  the  latter,  to  imitate  their 
manners. 

Apparently  the  burial  place  of  the  Sioux  here  described  was 
on  the  lower  northwestern  part  of  Dayton's  bluff,  above  Carver's 
cave,  where  these  Indians  fifty-seven  years  before,  in  Carver's 
time,  were  accustomed  to  bring  their  dead.  A  group  or  series 
of  many  small  artificial  mounds  marked  the  place  within  the 
memory  of  the  first  white  settlers.  It  is  about  a  third  of  a  mile 
northwest  from  the  large  mounds  preserved  in  the  Indian  Mounds 
Park  at  the  highest  part  of  this  bluff. 

Six  years  earlier,  in  1817,  Long  had  found  Little  Crow's 
village  about  two  miles  farther  down  the  river,  on  its  east  side, 
then  having  fourteen  cabins,  of  which  he  wrote,  "The  cabins 
are  a  kind  of  stockade  buildings,  and  of  a  better  appearance 
than  any  Indian  dwellings  I  have  before  met  with."  This  was 
at  or  near  the  spot  where  Pike  had  visited  Little  Crow's  eleven 
lodges  in  1805.  Pike  wrote  of  this  village  as  "just  below  a  ledge 
of  rocks,"  which  must  refer  to  Dayton's  bluff;  Long  in  1817 
noted  its  situation  as  two  miles  below  Carver's  cave,  which  was 
in  the  base  of  that  bluff;  and  Schoolcraft,  who  came  with  Cass 
in  1820,  described  the  village,  with  its  fields  of  corn,  cucum- 
bers, and  pumpkins,  as  four  miles  below  the  cave.  Before  the 
summer  of  1823,  it  had  been  removed  to  the  northwestern  or  up- 


368  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 

per  side  of  Dayton's  bluff,  where  the  river  turns  in  a  broad 
curve  from  a  northwestward  to  a  southward  course. 

After  the  Sioux  by  a  treaty  in  the  city  of  Washington,  on 
September  29,  1837,  ceded  their  lands  east  of  the  Mississippi 
here,  the  Kaposia  band  had  their  village  on  its  west  side,  occupy- 
ing a  part  of  South  Park,  a  suburb  of  South  St.  Paul.  Thus 
the  village  of  Kaposia  was  changed  several  times  in  its  situa- 
tion. It  may  be  regarded  as  the  precursor  of  the  city  of  St. 
Paul,  having  been  temporarily  placed  near  the  center  of  this 
city's  area  at  the  time  of  the  1823  expedition. 

The  boat  party  entered  the  mouth  of  the  Minnesota  river, 
then  called  the  St.  Peter,  late  in  the  night  of  July  2;  and  a  stay 
of  a  week  was  made  there,  for  rest  and  to  visit  the  Falls  of  St. 
Anthony. 

Provided  by  Colonel  Snelling  at  the  fort  with  a  new  and 
more  efficient  escort  of  twenty-one  soldiers,  with  Joseph  Ren- 
ville,  instead  of  Roque,  as  their  Dakota  interpreter,  and  with 
Joseph  Snelling,  a  son  of  the  colonel,  as  assistant  guide  and  in- 
terpreter, the  expedition  set  forward  on  July  9  up  the  Minne- 
sota valley.  A  part  traveled  on  horseback,  including  Say  and 
Colhoun,  while  the  others,  including  Long,  Keating,  Seymour, 
and  Renville,  went  in  four  canoes,  which  also  carried  the  bulk 
of  their  stores  and  provisions.  It  was  planned  that  the  land 
and  river  parties  "should,  as  far  as  practicable,  keep  company  to- 
gether, and  encamp  every  night,  if  possible,  at  the  same  place." 

On  July  13  they  reached  the  vicinity  of  Traverse  des  Sioux, 
and  encamped  at  a  beautiful  bend  of  the  river,  called  the  Cres- 
cent. Here  the  expedition  left  the  canoes,  reduced  the  escort, 
and  on  July  15  moved  westward  by  the  route  of  Swan  lake. 
They  now  numbered  in  total  twenty-four  men,  with  twenty-one 
horses.  The  most  southern  part  of  the  course  of  the  Minnesota 
having  been  cut  off  by  the  journey  past  Swan  lake,  this  stream 
was  again  reached  and  crossed  a  short  distance  below  the  mouth 
of  the  Cottonwood  river.  Thence  the  expedition  passed  along  the 
southwestern  side  of  the  valley,  and  across  the  contiguous  up- 
land prairies,  to  Lac  qui  Parle  and  Big  Stone  lake.  The  latter 
lake  was  reached  on  July  22,  and  the  Columbia  Fur  Company's 


LONG,  KEATING,  AND  BELTRAML  369 

trading  post,  at  the  southern  end  of  Lake  Traverse,  the  next 
day. 

From  officers  of  this  company  the  annual  production  of  furs 
in  this  region,  south  of  the  international  boundary,  was  noted  as 
having  a  value,  in  the  Montreal  market,  of  about  $65,000.  A 
fourth  part  of  the  value  was  estimated  to  consist  of  about  4,000 
buffalo  skins,  rated  at  an  average  of  $4  each.  The  value  of 
fisher  skins  was  estimated  as  $11,250;  of  muskrat,  $8,000;  otter, 
$6,000;  lynx,  $5,600;  beaver,  $4,000;  elk  skins,  at  five  dollars 
apiece,  $3,200;  marten,  $3,000;  mink,  $2,000;  dressed  buffalo 
skins  at  $5  each,  $1,600;  bear  skins,  at  $6.25,  $1,500;  fox, 
$1,300;  moose,  $800;  wolves,  $400;  etc.  The  country  also  sup- 
plied, for  the  use  of  the  fur  traders  and  voyageurs,  about  a 
thousand  bags  of  pemmican  yearly,  valued  at  $4,000,  this  being 
smoked  and  pounded  buffalo  meat  preserved  by  mixing  it  with 
an  equal  weight  of  buffalo  fat  poured  on  when  hot  and  liquid. 

The  journey  northward  along  the  Bois  des  Sioux  and  Red 
rivers,  passing  down  the  east  side  of  the  latter  to  Pembina,  occu- 
pied ten  days,  from  July  26  to  August  5;  and  a  stop  of  four 
days  was  made  at  Pembina,  close  south  of  the  British  line. 

Major  Long  had  intended  to  proceed  east  from  the  Red 
river  along  the  49th  parallel  to  the  Lake  of  the  "Woods;  but  on 
learning  that  the  country  to  be  thus  crossed  was  impracticable 
for  a  journey  with  horses,  because  of  its  swamps,  he  decided  to 
carry  out  his  instructions  for  the  expedition  as  nearly  as  possible 
by  traveling  with  canoes  along  the  routes  of  the  fur  traders, 
through  Lake  Winnipeg,  the  Lake  of  the  Woods,  and  Rainy 
lake,  and  thence  eastward  by  many  small  lakes  and  streams  to 
Lake  Superior. 

At  Forts  Garry  and  Douglas,  belonging  respectively  to  the 
Hudson  Bay  Company  and  the  Selkirk  colony,  on  the  site  of 
the  city  of  Winnipeg,  the  expedition  rested  six  days,  from  Au- 
gust 11  to  17.  Thence  the  farther  journey  down  the  Red  river, 
along  the  southeast  shore  of  Lake  Winnipeg,  up  the  Winnipeg 
river  to  the  Lake  of  the  Woods,  along  the  Rainy  river,  through 
Rainy  lake,  and  by  many  lakes  and  portages  to  Dog  lake  and 
river  and  to  Fort  William  on  Thunder  bay  of  Lake  Superior, 

I.-22 


370  MINNESOTA  IN'   THREE  CENTURIES. 

was  made  with  birch  canoes.  Six  members  of  the  party  had  k-l't 
tliis  expedition  at  Pembina,  and  it  was  reinforced  at  Forts 
Garry  and  Douglas  by  an  Ojibway  interpreter,  a  pilot,  and  nine 
canoe-men,  the  latter  being  Canadians  and  half-breeds.  In  set- 
ting out  with  their  three  canoes,  the  whole  party  comprised  twen- 
ty-nine men. 

The  town  which  has  since  grown  to  form  the  present  large 
city  of  Winnipeg  was  described  by  Keating  as  follows: 

The  population  of  the  settlement  amounts  to  about  six  hundred. 
There  is  an  appearance  of  neatness,  and  even  of  comfort,  in  many  of 
the  cabins  belonging  to  the  Swiss  and  Scotch  settlers.  The  agricul- 
tural improvements  are  daily  becoming  more  respectable,  and  adding  to 
the  prosperity  of  the  colony.  The  soil  is  not  so  good  as  at  Pembina, 
yet  large  crops  of  grain  have  been  obtained.  It  appears  well  adapted 
to  the  growth  of  wheat,  barley,  oats,  and  potatoes.  Maize  has  not 
yet  had  a  fair  trial.  Of  wheat  they  have  repeatedly  obtained  from 
twenty  to  forty  and  even  more  bushels  to  the  acre.  Perhaps  the  great- 
est desideratum  at  Fort  Douglas  is  wood,  which,  growing  only  upon 
the  banks  of  the  rivers,  is  becoming  scarce.  They  have  a  few  tradesmen 
and  manufacturers  among  them.  A  tanner,  who  appears  to  under- 
stand his  business  well,  has  been  brought  over,  and  makes  very  good 
leather  from  buffalo  hides,  so  that  they  are  not  all  at  present  re- 
duced to  the  necessity  of  wearing  moccasins.  An  attempt  has  also 
been  made  to  convert  the  wool  of  the  buffalo  to  some  useful  purpose. 
An  association  has  been  formed  for  this  object,  which  has  contracted 
with  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  for  the  requisite  supply  of  skins; 
they  pluck  out  the  hair  that  covers  the  wool;  and  then  separate  the 
latter  by  an  ingenious  process  into  the  different  qualities,  which  are 
said  to  be  no  less  than  eight  or  nine.  The  coarse  wool  is  manufac- 
tured into  a  good  substantial  cloth;  the  fine  qualities  are  sent  to  Eng- 
land, where,  it  is  said,  they  find  a  ready  market. 

On  August  18  the  expedition  entered  Lake  Winnipeg,  and 
the  next  day  they  reached  Fort  Alexander,  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Winnipeg  river,  where  a  day  was  spent  in  repairing  one  of  their 
canoes.  The  ascent  of  the  Winnipeg  river  required  five  days, 
and  Eat  portage  was  passed  on  August  25,  the  canoes  being 
launched  at  the  upper  end  of  this  portage  upon  the  Lake  of  the 
Woods. 

Thence  the  route  to  Lake  La  Croix,  at  the  west  end  of 
Hunter's  Island,  was  on  the  northern  lake  and  river  boundary 


LONG,  KEATING,  AND  BELTEAMI.  371 

of  Minnesota.  The  expedition  again  stopped  for  repairs  of  the 
canoes  during  two  days,  August  31  and  September  1,  at  the 
trading  posts  of  the  American  Fur  Company  and  the  Hudson 
Bay  Company,  respectively  on  the  south  and  north  sides  of  the 
Eainy  river  at  its  Koochiching  falls,  near  the  mouth  of  Eainy 
lake.  In  passing  along  the  northwestern  side  of  Hunter's  Is- 
land and  onward,  they  followed  a  Canadian  water  route,  arriving 
on  September  13  at  Fort  William.  Thence,  having  left  the  can- 
oes, they  coasted  along  the  northern  and  eastern  shores  of  Lake 
Superior  in  an  old  boat  about  thirty  feet  long,  and  arrived  at 
the  Sault  Ste.  Marie  on  the  last  day  of  September. 

Four  days  later  they  reached  Mackinaw,  where  the  party 
was  divided.  The  military  escort  returned  to  Fort  St.  Anthony. 
Major  Long  and  his  scientific  associates  sailed  to  Detroit  and  to 
Buffalo,  and  thence  traveled  by  way  of  Eochester,  Albany,  and 
New  York,  to  Philadelphia,  arriving  there  on  October  26,  after 
an  absence  of  almost  six  months  and  a  total  journey  of  more 
than  4,500  miles. 

The  narrative  of  this  expedition  and  of  its  observations  on 
the  geographic  features,  geology,  fauna,  flora,  and  climate,  and 
on  the  Indians,  compiled  by  Professor  Keating,  was  published 
the  next  year  in  two  volumes  at  Philadelphia;  and  in  1825  an 
edition  of  it,  also  in  two  volumes,  appeared  in  London.  Fol- 
lowing the  narrative  by  Keating  is  a  chapter  by  Major  Long, 
giving  a  general  description  of  the  country  traversed,  written 
as  a  topographical  report  to  the  War  Department.  Important 
scientific  reports  are  appended,  on  zoology,  by  Thomas  Say; 
botany,  by  Lewis  D.  de  Schweinitz;  astronomic  determinations 
of  latitude  and  longitude,  by  J.  Edward  Colhoun;  meteorology, 
by  Dr.  Joseph  Lovell;  and  vocabularies  of  the  Sauk,  Dakota, 
Ojibway,  and  Cree  languages,  by  Keating  and  Say.  These  vol- 
umes were  a  great  contribution  to  the  natural  history  and  ethno- 
logy of  the  Northwest,  surpassing  in  value  any  other  of  the 
numerous  official  expeditions  sent  into  the  area  of  Minnesota  by 
our  national  government,  except  the  geological  survey  by  Owen 
twenty-five  years  later. 


372  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 

JOURNEY  OF  BELTRAMI  TO  RED  LAKE  AND  ON  THE 
UPPER  MISSISSIPPI. 

The  very  sentimental  and  probably  impatient  and  critical 
temperament  of  the  Italian  exile,  Beltrami,  was  little  apt  to  in- 
gratiate him  into  the  good  will  and  friendship  of  the  military 
and  otherwise  severely  practical  leaders  of  this  expedition.  Bel- 
trami had  been  commended  to  Major  Long  by  Snelling  and 
Taliaferro,  but  mutual  disappointment  resulted  during  their  as- 
sociation in  the  journey  from  the  fort  to  Pembina.  The  re- 
pugnance of  Keating  toward  Beltrami  is  indicated  by  his  omit- 
ting any  reference  to  him  in  his  "Narrative,"  except  in  a  foot- 
note which  says:  "An  Italian  gentleman,  whom  we  found  at 
Fort  St.  Anthony,  asked  and  obtained  leave  to  travel  with  the 
expedition:  he  continued  with  them  until  the  7th  of  August. 
This  is  the  gentleman  who  has  lately  published  an  account  of  his 
discoveries  on  the  Mississippi;  we  have  read  it." 

The  publication  thus  mentioned  is  the  book  in  French,  is- 
sued at  New  Orleans  in  1824,  before  noted  in  our  sketch  of 
Beltrami's  life.  His  "Pilgrimage/'  issued  four  years  afterward 
in  London,  presented  his  adventures  of  travel  as  an  exile  during 
the  years  1821-23,  in  Europe,  in  the  long  voyage  across  the 
Atlantic,  and  in  the  United  States.  This  work  of  two  volumes, 
cast  in  the  form  of  a  series  of  twenty-two  letters,  addressed  in 
terms  of  most  affectionate  respect  to  an  Italian  countess,  des- 
cribes the  countries  which  he  visited,  tells  his  experiences,  and 
gives  his  comments  concerning  persons  and  events. 

Letters  XIV  to  XXI,  in  pages  126  to  491  of  Volume  II, 
contain  Beltrami's  account  of  his  travels  in  Minnesota,  which  we 
will  hero  briefly  notice  in  the  part  comprising  his  return  from 
Pembina  to  the  Fort  St.  Anthony. 

Having  left  the  expedition  at  Pembina,  he  traveled  south- 
eastward along  an  Indian  trail,  with  two  Ojibways  and  a  half- 
breed  interpreter,  to  the  junction  of  the  Thief  and  Red  Lake 
rivers,  whence  his  journey  was  by  canoe  up  the  latter  river  to 
Red  lake.  The  interpreter  had  returned  home  from  the  mouth 


J.  COXSTAXTINE  BELTS  AMI. 


LONG,  KEATING,  AND  BELTRAML  373 

of  Thief  river,  and  at  the  distance  of  five  or  six  miles  thence 
a  party  of  Sioux  attacked  his  two  Ojibway  companions,  pain- 
fully wounding  one  of  them  in  the  arm  with  a  rifle  ball.  The 
next  day  these  Ojibways,  deserting  Beltrami  and  their  canoe, 
hurried  forward  by  a  shorter  land  route  to  Eed  lake,  leaving 
him  to  come  there  alone,  as  best  he  could,  following  the  mean- 
dering river.  His  inexperience  in  canoeing  caused  him,  after 
becoming  fatigued  with  paddling,  and  after  upsetting  and  drench- 
ing his  provisions,  baggage,  gun  and  sword,  to  continue  the  navi- 
gation of  the  stream  by  wading  and  towing  the  canoe.  But  he 
was  undaunted  and  even  cheerful,  as  he  wrote: 

While  thus  dragging  after  me  my  canoe,  with  a  cord  over  my 
shoulder,  an  oar  in  my  hand  for  my  support,  my  back  stooping,  my 
head  looking  down,  holding  conversation  with  the  fishes  beneath,  and 
making  incessant  windings  in  the  river,  in  order  to  sound  its  depth, 
that  I  mright  safely  pass;  I  must  leave  it  to  your  imagination  to  con- 
ceive the  variety  and  interest  of  the  ideas  which  rapidly  passed  in 
review  before  my  mind.  *  *  * 

The  weather  on  the  second  day  of  my  progress  was  very  disagree- 
able. A  storm  which  commenced  before  mid-day  continued  till  night. 
Notwithstanding  this,  however,  I  did  not  relax  an  instant  but  to  take 
my  food.  I  saw  the  hand  of  providence  in  the  physical  and  moral  vig- 
our which  supported  me  during  this  dreadful  conflict.  In  the  evening 
I  had  no  access  to  a  more  comfortable  hearth  than  on  the  preceding 
one.  My  bear  skin  and  my  coverlid,  which  constituted  the  whole  of 
my  bed,  were  completely  soaked;  and,  what  was  worse,  the  mould 
began  to  aifect  my  provisions.  *  *  * 

On  the  morning  of  the  17th,  the  sun's  beams  gilded  the  awful 
solitude  by  which  I  was  surrounded,  and  I  eagerly  availed  myself  of 
their  influence.  *  *  *  The  river  became  narrower  and  deeper  the 
farther  I  ascended  it,  as  is  the  case  with  all  rivers  originating  in  lakes. 
It  was  thus  absolutely  indispensable  for  me  to  learn  how  to  guide 
the  canoe  with  the  oar.  I  set  myself,  therefore,  to  study  this  art  in 
good  earnest;  and  in  the  afternoon,  when  I  struck  my  tent,  I  exerted 
myself  first  to  pass  several  deep  gulfs,  and  afterwards  to  traverse 
short 'stages  or  distances  of  the  river;  but  the  fatigue  I  endured  was 
extreme,  and  I  preferred  returning  to  my  drag-rope  whenever  the  river 
permitted  my  walking  in  it.  As  appearances  seemed  to  threaten  rain, 
I  covered  my  effects  with  my  umbrella,  stuck  into  the  bottom  of  my 
canoe.  It  was  singular  enough  to  see  them  conveyed  thus  in  the  stately 
style  and  manner  of  China,  while  I  was  myself  condemned  to  travel 
in  that  of  a  galley  slave.  *  *  *  As  it  was  of  consequence  for  me 


374  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 

to  avail  myself  of  everything  that  could  promote  cheerfulness  and  keep 
up  my  spirits,  I  could  not  help  smiling,  which  I  am  sure,  my  dear 
Countess,  you  would  yourself  have  done,  at  the  sight  of  my  grotesque 
convoy.  This  night  was  less  painful;  my  bed  was  dry;  and,  but  for 
the  millions  of  gnats,  which  incessantly  attacked  me,  and  almost  flayed 
me  alive,  I  am  convinced  that  I  should  have  enjoyed  sound  and  un- 
interrupted sleep. 

After  four  days  of  his  solitary  travel  up  the  Red  Lake 
river,  Beltrami  met  a  canoe  party  of  Ojibways,  one  of  whom,  an 
old  man,  he  persuaded  to  take  him  and  his  canoe  to  Red  lake, 
where  they  arrived  in  the  evening  of  August  19,  by  two  days  of 
rowing.  From  an  Ojibway  village  near  the  mouth  of  the  lake, 
Beltrami  traveled  with  a  canoe  along  its  southwestern  shore  to 
the  Little  Rock  or  Gravel  river,  where  he  stopped  at  the  hut  of 
a  half-breed,  who  became  his  guide. 

August  26  and  27  were  spent  in  making  long  portages  with 
the  half-breed  and  an  Ojibway,  leaving  the  south  shore  of  Red 
lake  probably  near  the  site  of  the  Agency  and  going  south, 
passing  small  lakes  and  coming  at  last,  by  a  few  miles  of  canoe- 
ing on  the  upper  part  of  the  stream  called  Great  Portage  river, 
now  mapped  as  the  Red  Lake  river,  to  Lake  Puposky,  now  called 
Mud  lake. 

Proceeding  still  southward  the  next  morning,  Beltrami  soon 
came  to  a  lake  named  by  him  Lake  Julia,  which  he  thought  to 
have  no  visible  outlet,  but  to  send  its  waters  by  filtration  through 
the  swampy  ground  both  northward  and  southward,  being  thus  a 
source  both  of  the  Red  Lake  river,  called  by  him  Bloody  river, 
and  of  the  Turtle  river,  the  most  northern  affluent  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi. The  narrative  of  Beltrami  shows  that  he  arrived  at 
Lake  Julia  by  a  short  portage;  but  on  a  detailed  map  of  the 
recent  United  States  land  surveys  it  is  shown  as  having  an  out- 
let northwesterly  into  Mud  lake,  thus  belonging  to  the  Red 
river  basin.  About  half  a  mile  of  swampy  land  extends  across 
the  continental  watershed  separating  Lake  Julia  from  the  Little 
and  Big  Turtle  lakes,  one  level  connected  by  a  strait;  and  from 
a  southeastern  arm  of  the  latter  the  Turtle  river,  called  by  Bel- 
trami the  Mississippi,  flows  eastward. 


LONG,  KEATING,  AND  BELTKAML  375 

On  September  4.  Beltrami  reached  Red  Cedar  lake,  since 
known  as  Cass  lake;  and  during  the  next  three  days  he  voyaged 
down  the  Mississippi  to  the  mouth  of  Leech  Lake  river.  Thence 
he  went  up  that  stream  to  Leech  lake,  where  he  made  the  ac- 
quaintance of  Cloudy  Weather,  a  leader  in  the  band  of  the  Pil- 
lager 0  jib  ways,  by  whom  he  was  accompanied  in  the  long  canoe 
voyage  of  return  to  the  Mississippi  and  down  this  river  to  Fort 
St.  Anthony.  They  reached  Sandy  lake  on  the  evening  of  Sep- 
tember 17;  left  there  on  the  21st,  and  on  the  last  day  of  this 
month  arrived  at  the  fort. 

Joseph  Snelling,  who  had  accompanied  Long's  expedition  to 
Pembina  and  thence  returned  to  the  fort  by  the  route  of  the 
Eed  and  Minnesota  rivers,  had  brought  tidings  of  Beltrami's 
setting  out  on  this  journey  to  the  sources  of  the  Mississippi  and 
southward  down  the  great  river;  but  it  was  already  deemed  pro- 
bable that  he  had  perished  on  his  lone  journey  through  the 
Ojibway  country.  He  was  therefore  received  with  much  surprise 
and  rejoicing  by  Taliaferro  and  by  Colonel  Snelling  and  his 
family. 

Beltrami  spent  only  a  few  days  at  the  fort,  and  on  October 
3  departed,  taking  passage  down  the  Mississippi  in  a  keel-boat, 
and  reached  St.  Louis  on  October  20.  Thence  the  farther  jour- 
ney to  New  Orleans  appears  to  have  been  made  in  a  leisurely 
manner,  as  his  next  letter,  the  last  in  this  series  addressed  to  the 
countess,  is  dated  there  December  13,  1823. 

During  a  third  part  of  a  thousand  years,  from  Vespucci  in 
1498  at  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi  to  Beltrami  at  Lake  Julia 
and  to  Schoolcraft  at  Lake  Itasca  in  1832,  the  discovery  of  this 
mighty  stream  from  its  mouths  to  its  sources,  had  been  in  pro- 
gress, carried  forward  by  Spanish,  French,  American,  and  Italian 
explorers,  and  was  thus  completed. 


Chapter  XVI. 
LATER  EXPLORATIONS. 

SINCE  Port  Snelling  was  built  and  in  1824  received  this 
name,  and  since  the  Mississippi  was  explored  to  its  far- 
thest sources,   with  their  publication  by  the  narratives 
and  maps  of  Beltrami  and  Schoolcraft  respectively  in  1828  and 
1834,  many  other  explorers  have  examined  parts  of  the  area  of 
this  state.     It  will  be  sufficient  here  to  enumerate  them  and  give 
very  brief  statements  of  their  work. 

FEATHEKSTONHAUGH   AND   MATHEK. 

In  September  and  October,  1835,  a  geological  examination 
of  the  southwestern  part  of  Minnesota  was  made,  under  a  commis- 
sion as  United  States  geologist,  by  George  William  Featherston- 
haugh,  traveling  from  Green  Bay  to  Fort  Snelling,  the  Minne- 
sota river  valley,  and  the  Coteau  des  Prairies.  His  report,  in 
168  pages,  was  printed  by  order  of  the  United  States  Senate  in 
1836;  and  a  more  extended  narrative  of  this  journey,  forming 
two  volumes,  entitled  "A  Canoe  Voyage  up  the  Minnay  Sotor," 
was  published  in  London  in  1847.  Featherstonhaugh  was  ac- 
companied by  "William  Williams  Mather,  who  during  the  next 
eight  years  had  charge  of  the  geological  survey  of  a  large  part 
of  New  York  state,  besides  other  surveys  or  reconnaissances  in 
Ohio  and  Kentucky.  Their  route  was  by  the  Minnesota  river 
to  the  lakes  Big  Stone  and  Traverse,  and  to  the  high  sources  of 
the  Minnesota  on  the  Coteau  des  Prairies  west  of  these  lakes. 

377 


378  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 

Featherstonhaugh  was  born  in  London  in  1780;  received  a 
fine  education  in  England;  and  afterward  traveled  several  years 
in  other  countries,  including  the  United  States,  where  he  mar- 
ried and  settled  at  Duanesburgh,  near  Schenectady,  N.  Y.  In 
1826,  with  Stephen  Van  Rensselaer,  he  secured  the  charter  to 
build  a  railroad  from  Albany  to  Schenectady,  one  of  the  earliest 
built  for  passenger  travel  in  this  country.  After  his  geological 
expeditions  for  the  United  States  Government,  traversing  the  re- 
gion of  the  Ozark  mountains  in  1834  and  southern  Minnesota  in 
the  autumn  of  the  next  year,  he  returned  to  England.  A  few 
years  later,  under  appointment  as  a  commissioner  of  the  British 
government,  he  surveyed  parts  of  the  proposed  boundaries  be- 
tween the  United  States  and  the  British  possessions,  preliminary 
to  the  treaty  on  this  subject  by  Webster  and  Lord  Ashburton  in 
1842.  In  reward  for  that  service  he  was  appointed  in  1844  as 
the  British  consul  at  Havre,  France,  which  official  position  he 
held  twenty-two  years,  until  his  death  there  September  28,  1866. 
An  interesting  memoir  of  him,  written  by  his  son,  is  in  the 
American  Geologist  (volume  III,  pages  217-223,  with  a  portrait, 
April,  1889). 

Mather  was  born  in  Brooklyn,  Conn.,  May  24,  1804;  was 
graduated  at  the  West  Point  Military  Academy  in  1828;  was 
during  several  years  assistant  professor  there  of  chemistry,  min- 
eralogy, and  geology;  traveled  in  Minnesota  with  Featherston- 
haugh in  1835;  was  one  of  the  geologists  of  the  New  York  state 
survey,  1836-44,  publishing  annual  reports  and  a  voluminous 
final  report;  conducted  the  first  geological  surveys  of  Ohio  and 
of  Kentucky,  1837-40;  was  professor  of  natural  sciences  in  the 
Ohio  University,  at  Athens,  Ohio,  1842-50;  was  agricultural 
chemist  for  the  state  of  Ohio,  1850-54;  and  wrote  many  reports 
and  papers  on  geology,  mining,  and  agriculture.  A  map  of  the 
Minnesota  river  which  he  drafted  from  his  observations  in  1835 
was  published  by  Featherstonhaugh  in  1847,  with  his  work  be- 
fore cited.  Mather  died  in  Columbus,  Ohio,  February  26,  1859. 

A  biographic  sketch  of  Mather,  by  Prof.  C.  H.  Hitchcock, 
with  a  portrait  and  notes  of  his  writings,  was  published  in  the 
American  Geologist  (volume  XIX,  pages  1-15,  January,  1897). 


GEORGE   CATJJN. 


LATER  EXPLORATIONS.  379 

Under  date  of  February  22,  1851,  a  letter  of  Professor  Mather 
tc  the  Minnesota  Historical  Society,  on  the  occasion  of  his  elec- 
tion to  its  membership,  is  given  in  its  first  volume  of  Historical 
Collections,  noting  his  travels  in  Wisconsin  and  Minnesota. 
His  manuscript  report  of  that  expedition  was  not  published. 

ALBERT  LEA. 

Another  government  expedition  in  the  year  1835,  com- 
manded by  Lieut.  Albert  Miller  Lea,  traversed  the  area  which 
is?  now  Iowa  and  advanced  into  the  south  edge  of  Minnesota. 
One  day  they  passed  two  beautiful  lakes  where  now  is  the  county 
seat  of  Freeborn  county,  the  attractive  and  growing  city  of 
Albert  Lea.  The  commander  mapped  these  lakes  and  named 
them  as  Fox  and  Chapeau  lakes;  but  Nicollet,  in  his  admirable 
map  published  eight  years  afterward,  called  the  larger  one  Lake 
Albert  Lea,  whence  came  the  name  of  the  city. 

Lea  was  born  in  Richland,  Grainger  county,  Tennessee,  July 
23,  1808;  was  graduated  at  West  Point  in  1831;  aided  Major 
Long  in  1832,  in  surveys  of  the  Tennessee  river;  was  an  assis- 
tant on  surveys  of  Lake  Michigan  in  1833;  was  in  military  ser- 
vice on  the  Missouri  and  Mississippi  rivers  during  1834;  and 
in  the  summer  of  1835  led  the  exploring  expedition  here  no- 
ticed. With  three  companies  of  infantry,  five  four-mule  teams, 
and  several  pack-horses,  Lieutenant  Lea  traveled  along  the  di- 
vide between  tributaries  of  the  Des  Moines  and  Mississippi  rivers, 
thence  to  the  foot  of  Lake  Pepin,  and  thence  westward  across 
the  headwaters  of  the  Cedar  and  Blue  Earth  rivers.  Descending 
the  Des  Moines  in  a  canoe,  Lea  mapped  it  and  described  it  in 
his  journal,  which  was  the  basis  of  a  report  to  the  War  Depart- 
ment, and  of  a  pamphlet  in  53  pages,  with  a  map  published 
the  next  year  in  Philadelphia.  In  this  publication,  Lea  first 
gave  the  name  Iowa  to  the  district  afterward  so  called  as  a 
territory  and  state,  deriving  it  from  the  Iowa  Indians  and  the 
river  bearing  their  name. 

An  autobiographic  sketch  of  Albert  M.  Lea  was  published 
in  the  Freeborn  County  Standard,  March  13,  1879.  He  resigned 


380  MINNESOTA  IN  THKEE  CENTURIES. 

from  the  army  in  1836;  resided  in  Tennessee,  and  after  1857  in 
Texas;  and  was  an  engineer  of  the  Confederate  service  during 
the  Civil  War.  He  died  January  17,  1891.  Two  of  his  brothers 
were  Pry  or  Lea,  a  member  of  Congress,  and  Luke  Lea,  who,  as 
Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs,  was  associated  with  Governor 
Ramsey  in  1851  in  making  the  treaties  of  Traverse  des  Sioux 
and  Mendota. 

GEORGE  CATLIN. 

In  the  summers  of  1835  and  1836  an  exceptionally  gifted 
man,  George  Catlin,  visited  Fort  Snelling  and  made  extensive 
journeys  in  this  state. 

Catlin  was  born  in  Wilkesbarre,  Pa.,  July  26,  1796;  studied 
law  at  Litchfield,  Conn.;  became  noted  as  an  amateur  artist; 
traveled  among  nearly  all  the  Indian  tribes  of  the  United  States, 
painting  portraits  of  the  Indians,  hunting  scenes,  etc.,  exhibited 
his  Indian  gallery  in  New  York,  Philadelphia,  Washington,  Bos- 
ton, and  elsewhere,  1837-39,  and  in  London  and  other  cities  of 
England  and  Ireland,  1840-45,  afterward  in  Paris,  and  again  in 
London,  1848-50;  traveled  much  in  Central  and  South  America, 
during  the  years  1852-57;  spent  the  next  thirteen  years  in  Eu- 
rope, mostly  in  Brussels,  Belgium,  engaged  in  making  addi- 
tional paintings  from  sketches  taken  during  his  former  travels; 
returned  to  the  United  States  in  October,  1870;  and  died  in 
Jersey  City,  N.  J.,  December  23,  1872.  He  published  many 
works,  skillfully  illustrated  by  himself,  describing  the  North 
American  Indians.  Several  hundred  of  his  paintings,  portray- 
ing the  chiefs,  women,  children,  customs,  and  mode  of  life  of 
these  people,  are  preserved  in  the  National  Museum  at  Wash- 
ington. 

The  second  volume  of  the  annual  report  of  the  Smithsonian 
Institution  for  1885,  relating  to  the  museum,  contains  a  very 
elaborate  monograph  of  939  pages,  with  144  plates,  entitled  "The 
George  Catlin  Indian  Gallery  in  the  United  States  National 
Museum,  with  Memoir  and  Statistics,"  by  Thomas  Donaldson. 
This  work  includes  three  portraits  of  Catlin,  at  the  ages  of 


LATER  EXPLORATIONS.  381 

twenty-eight,  forty-five,  and  seventy-two  years;  a  bibliography 
of  his  published  writings;  extensive  quotations  from  them,  his- 
torically arranged;  and  much  general  information  concerning  the 
Indians. 

Catlin  first  came  to  Fort  Snelling  in  June,  1835,  by  a 
steamer  from  St.  Louis;  and  returned  in  a  canoe,  stopping  at 
various  places  to  make  paintings. 

The  next  year  he  came  again,  traveling  with  a  birch  canoe 
from  Green  Bay  to  Prairie  du  Chien  and  thence  up  the  Missis- 
sippi to  Fort  Snelling  in  the  early  summer,  and  similarly  re- 
turned with  a  dug-out  canoe  in  the  autumn  to  Rock  Island, 
thence  going  east. 

During  the  meantime,  the  summer  of  1836,  with  a  Dakota 
guide  and  one  comrade,  an  Englishman  named  Wood,  he  traveled 
on  horseback  from  the  Falls  of  St.  Anthony  to  the  Coteau  des 
Prairies  and  the  Pipestone  Quarry,  a  spot  then  renowned  among 
the  Indians  and  since  made  famous  through  all  the  world  by 
Longfellow's  poem,  "The  Song  of  Hiawatha."  Catlin  wrote 
of  this  journey  and  of  the  quarry  (in  Letters  and  Notes  *  * 
*  written  during  Eight  Years'  Travel,  etc.,  1841,  volume  II, 
pages  201,  202),  as  follows: 

For  many  miles  we  had  the  Coteau  in  view  in  the  distance  before 
u?%  which  looked  like  a  blue  cloud  settling  down  in  the  horizon;  and 
we  were  scarcely  sensible  of  the  fact,  when  we  had  arrived  at  its  base, 
from  the  graceful  and  almost  imperceptible  swells  with  which  it  com- 
mences its  elevation  above  the  country  around  it.  Over  these  swells  or 
terraces,  gently  rising  one  above  the  other,  we  travelled  for  the  dis- 
tance of  forty  or  fifty  miles,  when  we  at  length  reached  the  summit; 
and  from  the  base  of  this  mound  to  its  top,  a  distance  of  forty  or 
fifty  miles,  there  was  not  a  tree  or  bush  to  be  seen  in  any  direction, 
and  the  ground  everywhere  was  covered  with  a  green  turf  of  grass, 
about  five  or  six  inches  high;  and  we  were  assured  by  our  In- 
dian guide,  that  it  descended  to  the  West,  towards  the  Missouri,  with 
a  similar  inclination,  and  for  an  equal  distance,  divested  of  every  thing 
save  the  grass  that  grows,  and  the  animals  that  walk  upon  it. 

On  the  very  top  of  this  mound  or  ridge,  we  found  the  far-famed 
quarry  or  fountain  of  the  Red  Pipe,  which  is  truly  an  anomaly  in 
nature.  The  principal  and  most  striking  feature  of  this  place  is  a  per- 
pendicular wall  of  close-grained  compact  quartz,  of  twenty-five  and 
thirty  feet  in  elevation,  running  nearly  North  and  South  with  its 


382  MINNESOTA  IN  Tlil.'KK   CENTURIES. 

face  to  the  West,  exhibiting  a  front  of  nearly  two  miles  in  length, 
when  it  disappears  at  both  ends  by  running  under  the  prairie,  which 
becomes  there  a  little  more  elevated,  and  probably  covers  it  for  many 
miles,  both  to  the  North  and  the  South.  *  *  * 

At  the  base  of  this  wall  there  is  a  level  prairie,  of  half  a  mile  in 
width,  running  parallel  to  it;  in  any  and  all  parts  of  which,  the 
Indians  procure  the  red  stone  for  their  pipes  by  digging  through  the 
soil  and  several  layers  of  the  red  stone,  to  the  depth  of  four  or  five 
feet.  From  the  very  numerous  marks  of  ancient  and  modern  diggings 
or  excavations,  it  would  appear  that  this  place  has  been  for  many 
centuries  resorted  to  for  the  red  stone;  and  from  the  great  number 
of  graves  and  remains  of  ancient  fortifications  in  its  vicinity,  it  would 
seem,  as  well  as  from  their  actual  traditions,  that  the  Indian  tribes 
have  long  held  this  place  in  high  superstitious  estimation;  and  also 
that  it  has  been  the  resort  of  different  tribes,  who  have  made  their  re- 
gular pilgrimages  here  to  renew  their  pipes. 

The  red  pipe  stone,  I  consider,  will  take  its  place  amongst  minerals, 
as  an  interesting  subject  of  itself;  and  the  "Coteau  des  Prairies"  will 
become  hereafter  an  important  theme  for  geologists;  not  only  from  the 
fact  that  this  is  the  only  known  locality  of  that  mineral,  but  from 
other  phenomena  relating  to  it. 

A  sample  of  the  pipestone  was  carried  away  by  Catlin,  and 
was  subjected  to  chemical  examination  by  Dr.  Charles  T.  Jack- 
son of  Boston,  who  gave  to  it  the  mineralogical  name  of  cat- 
linite. 

JOSEPH  NICOLAS  NICOLLET. 

The  first  large  map  of  nearly  all  the  area  of  Minnesota,  ex- 
cepting only  a  small  part  about  the  Lake  of  the  Wpods  and  west- 
ward, was  drafted  by  Joseph  Nicolas  Nicollet,  and  was  published 
shortly  after  his  death,  in  1843,  with  his  report  of  170  pages 
on  the  basin  of  the  upper  Mississippi  river.  The  map  and  re- 
port thus  published  by  order  of  Congress  embodied  results  of 
his  surveys  while  employed  under  the  United  States  Bureau  of 
Topographical  Engineers.  In  the  area  of  this  state  the  map 
preceded  white  settlements  and  showed  no  village,  except  that 
of  the  Ojibways  at  the  narrows  of  'Red  Lake  and  a  few  Dakota 
villages  on  the  Minnesota  river. 


NICOLAS    XICOLLKT. 


LATEE  EXPLOEATIONS.  383 

Sibley,  in  his  memoir  of  Mcollet  (Minnesota  Historical 
Society  Collections,  Vol.  I,  pp.  183-195)  said:  "One  of  the  re- 
sults of  Nicolief  s  labors  was  the  magnificent  map  which  bears  his 
name,  and  which  has  associated  it  with  that  part  of  our  own 
section  of  country  for  all  time  to  come.  Although  that  map  is 
imperfect  in  its  details,  as  all  must  necessarily  be  that  are  not 
based  upon  an  actual  survey  of  all  the  region  therein  delineated, 
yet  its  main  points  are  remarkable  for  their  correctness,  espec- 
ially of  those  parts  which  he  visited  in  person.  *  *  *  I  have 
reason  to  know  that  M.  Nicollet  had  collected  ample  materials 
for  a  work  to  consist  of  several  volumes,  relating  principally  to 
what  is  now  Minnesota,  in  which  it  was  his  intention  to  elabor- 
ate the  several  departments  of  its  geology,  topography  and  geo- 
graphical position,  and  many  interesting  topics  connected  with 
the  Indian  tribes,  to  be  found  therein,  the  structure  of  their 
several  languages,  and  to  state  well-grounded  opinions  as  to  the 
condition  of  the  races  which  preceded  them." 

Mcollet  was  born  July  24,  1786,  at  Cluses,  in  Savoy;  com- 
pleted his  studies  in  Paris,  where,  in  1817,  he  became  an  officer 
of  the  astronomical  observatory;  in  1819  he  became  a  citizen  of 
France,  and  in  1825,  or  earlier,  received  the  Cross  of  the. Legion 
of  Honor.  He  was  financially  ruined  by  results  of  the  Kevolu- 
tion  of  1830,  and  came  to  the  United  States  in  1832,  to  travel 
in  unsettled  parts  of  the  South  and  West.  Here  his  talent  for 
geographic  work  was  soon  recognized  and  brought  to  the  knowl- 
edge of  the  U.  S.  War  Department  and  Bureau  of  Engineers. 
Under  their  aid  and  direction,  he  made  extensive  exploring  trips 
in  the  Northwest,  including  a  canoe  journey  in  1836  from  Fort 
Snelling  up  the  Mississippi,  and  by  portages  beyond  Leech  lake, 
to  Itasca  lake,  thence  returning  down  the  whole  course  of  the 
Mississippi  to  the  fort,  and  a  trip  in  1838  up  the  Minnesota 
river  and  past  Lake  Shetek  to  the  red  pipestone  quarry.  He 
died  in  the  city  of  Washington  September  11,  1843.  His  name 
is  commemorated  by  Nicollet  county,  established  by  an  act  of 
the  territorial  legislature.  March  5,  1853;  and  also  by  an  island 
of  the  Mississippi  in  the  city  of  Minneapolis,  and  by  its  finest 
business  avenue. 


384  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 

In  the  United  States  government  reports  and  maps  of  his 
work,  his  name  appears  varyingly  as  I.  N.  or  J.  N.  Nicollet; 
and  it  is  given  as  Jean  N.  by  Gen.  Sibley,  Dr.  Neill,  Prof. 
N.  H.  Winchell,  and  other  writers  of  Minnesota  history.  Re- 
searches by  Horace  V.  Winchell,  however,  in  1893,  published  in 
the  American  Geologist  (Vol.  XIII,  pp.  126-128,  for  Feb., 
1894),  show  that  his  name  was  Joseph  Nicolas  Nicollet.  A  bio- 
graphic sketch  of  him,  with  a  portrait,  is  given  by  Prof.  Win- 
chell in  the  American  Geologist  (Vol.  VIII,  pp.  343-352,  Dec., 
1891)  ;  and  additional  details  are  given  by  H.  V.  Winchell  in 
the  article  before  cited. 

The  error  of  this  name,  hitherto  generally  mistaken,  may 
have  come  from  its  being  confounded  with  that  of  the  much 
earlier  French  explorer,  Jean  Nicolet  (also  spelled  Nicollet), 
who  came  to  Canada  in  1618,  and  who  was  a  most  energetic  and 
honored  agent  of  the  proprietors  of  Canada  for  the  promotion 
of  the  fur  trade.  In  1634  this  Nicolet  visited  the  Sault  Ste. 
Marie,  and  thence  came  to  Green  Bay  in  eastern  Wisconsin,  be- 
ing the  first  white  man  known  to  have  visited  any  part  of  that 
stats.  He  died  on  the  last  day  of  October,  1642,  being  drowned 
by  shipwreck  on  the  St.  Lawrence  river  near  Quebec. 

In  1838,  the  second  year  after  Catlin's  journey  to  the  pipe- 
stone  quarry,  it  was  visited,  as  before  noted,  by  Nicollet,  who  des- 
cribed it  thus: 

The  Indians  of  all  the  surrounding  nations  make  a  regular  annual 
pilgrimage  to  it,  unless  prevented  by  their  wars  or  dissensions.  The 
quarry  is  on  the  lands  of  the  Sissiton  tribe  of  Sioux. 

The  idea  of  the  young  Indians,  who  are  very  fond  of  the  marvel- 
lous, is,  that  it  has  been  opened  by  the  Great  Spiirit;  and  that  when- 
ever it  is  visited  by  them,  they  are  saluted  by  lightning  and  thunder. 
We  may  cite,  as  a  coincidence,  our  own  experience  in  confirmation  of 
this  tradition.  Short  of  half  a  mile  from  the  valley,  we  were  met  by 
a  severe  thunderstorm,  during  which  the  wind  blew  with  so  much 
force  as  to  threaten  the  overturning  of  Mr.  Renville's  wagon;  and  we 
were  obliged  to  stop  for  a  few  minutes  during  the  short  descent  into 
the  valley. 

If  this  mode  of  reception  was  at  first  to  be  interpreted  as  an  in- 
dication of  anger  on  the  part  of  the  Great  Spirit  for  our  intrusion,  we 
may  add  that  he  was  soon  reconciled  to  our  presence;  for  the  sun  soon 


LATER  EXPLORATIONS.  385 

after  made  its  appearance,  drying  both  the  valley  and  our  baggage. 
The  rest  of  the  day  was  spent  in  pitching  our  tent  on  the  supposed 
consecrated  ground,  and  in  admiring  the  beautiful  effects  of  lights  and 
shadows  produced  by  the  western  sun  as  it  illumined  the  several  parts 
of  the  bluff,  composed  of  red  rocks  of  different  shades,  extending  a 
league  in  length,  and  presenting  the  appearance  of  the  ruins  of  some 
ancient  city  built  of  marble  and  porphyry.  The  night  was  calm  and 
temperate,  of  which  we  took  advantage  to  make  astronomical  obser- 
vations. 


The  principal  rock  that  strikes  the  attention  of  the  observer  in 
this  remarkable  inland  bluff,  is  an  indurated  (metamorphic)  sand-rock 
or  quartzite,  the  red  color  of  which  diminishes  in  intensity  from  the 
base  to  the  summit.  It  is  distinctly  stratified,  the  upper  beds  being 
very  much  weather-worn  and  disintegrated  into  large  and  small  cubic 
fragments.  *  *  * 

This  red  pipestone,  not  more  interesting  to  the  Indian  than  it  is 
to  the  man  of  science,  by  its  unique  character,  deserves  a  particular 
description.  In  the  quarry  of  it  which  I  had  opened,  the  thickness  of 
the  bed  is  one  foot  and  a  half,  the  upper  portion  of  which  separates  in 
thin  slabs,  whilst  the  lower  ones  are  more  compact.  *  *  * 

Another  feature  of  the  Red  Pipestone  valley  is  the  occurrence  of 
granitic  boulders  of  larger  size  than  any  I  had  previously  met.  One 
of  them  measured  about  60  feet  in  circumference,  and  was  from  10 
to  12  feet  thick.  They  are  strewed  over  the  valley,  in  which  it  is 
remarkable  that  there  are  no  pebbles. 

The  name  of  Nicollet,  and  the  initials  of  the  five  other 
members  of  his  exploring  party,  with  the  date,  July,  1838,  were 
cut  in  the  quartzite  at  the  top  of  the  ledge  near  the  Leaping 
Rock.  The  initials  C.  F.  were  for  John  Charles  Fremont,  then 
a  young  man,  Nicollet's  principal  aid,  who  afterward  was  known 
as  "the  Path  Finder/'  for  his  explorations  of  the  Rocky  moun- 
tains, and  who  in  1856  was  the  presidential  candidate  of  the 
newly  organized  Republican  party.  Lake  Benton  received  this 
name  on  Nicollefs  map,  for  Senator  Thomas  H.  Benton,  whose 
daughter  Jessie  was  married  to  Fremont  in  1841;  and  a  lake  in 
North  Dakota  was  named  Lake  Jessie  in  honor  of  her  on  this 
map. 

i.-a 


386  MINNESOTA  IN  THKEE  CENTURIES. 

GEOLOGICAL  SURVEYS. 

When  this  region  had  been  thus  mapped  in  a  general  way, 
the  national  government  soon  took  steps  to  ascertain  its  geologic 
formations  and  mineral  resources.  Under  instructions  from  the 
United  States  Treasury  Department,  and  as  a  part  of  the  work 
of  the  General  Land  Office,  a  geological  survey  of  Wisconsin, 
Iowa,  and  Minnesota,  was  made  during  the  years  1847  to  1850 
by  David  Dale  Owen,  with  assistance  of  Joseph  G.  Norwood, 
Benjamin  F.  Shumard,  Charles  Whittlesey,  and  others. 

Biographic  sketches  and  portraits  of  these  four  authors, 
whose  writings  contributed  much  to  knowledge  of  the  geology 
of  this  state,  have  been  given  in  Volumes  IV  (1889)  and  XVI 
(1895)  of  the  American  Geologist,  which  was  published  monthly 
in  Minneapolis,  under  the  editorship  of  Professors  Alexander 
and  N.  H.  Winchell  and  others,  from  1888  to  1905. 

The  report  of  the  survey  by  Owen  and  his  assistants  was 
published  in  Philadelphia  in  1852,  as  a  quarto  volume  of  638 
pages,  with  many  figures  in  the  text,  and  many  plates  of  fossils, 
topographic  and  geologic  maps,  sections,  etc.  Prof.  N.  H.  Win- 
chell says  of  this  work:  "It  has  proved  to  be  the  worthy  sire  of 
a  numerous  progeny,  the  initiation  and  exemplar  of  a  series  of 
scientific  publications  by  the  U.  S.  government,  partly  under 
the  War  Department  and  partly  by  the  Department  of  the  In- 
terior, which  have  caused  American  science  to  illumine  the  whole 
world." 

During  the  early  years  of  statehood  of  Minnesota,  from 
1860  to  1871,  geologic  examinations  of  parts  of  the  state  were 
made  and  published,  under  authority  of  the  legislature,  by 
Charles  L.  Anderson,  Thomas  Clark,  Dr.  Aug.  H.  Hanchett, 
Henry  H.  Eames,  Nathan  C.  D.  Taylor,  Charles  Whittlesey,  and 
Prof.  Alexander  Winchell. 

In  1872  the  Geological  and  Natural  History  Survey  of  Min- 
nesota was  established  by  an  act  of  the  state  legislature.  Prof. 
N.  H.  Winchell  was  appointed  as  the  state  geologist,  and  served 
in  this  office  thirty  years,  to  the  termination  of  the  geological 


LATER  EXPLORATIONS.  387 

part  of  this  survey.  Its  large  series  of  publications,  and  a  sum- 
mary of  its  results,  are  noted  in  Chapter  II  of  this  volume. 

The  first  chapter  (110  pages,  with  several  maps)  of  the 
first  volume,  issued  in  1884,  of  the  quarto  Final  Reports  of  this 
survey,  is  entitled  "Historical  Sketch  of  Explorations  and  Sur- 
veys in  Minnesota."  It  should  be  consulted  by  readers  desiring 
a  more  full  history  of  the  early  and  later  explorations  and  maps 
of  this  state,  especially  in  their  relations  to  geology. 

Again  in  the  second  volume  of  the  Final  Reports,  issued  in 
1888,  Professor  Winchell  gives,  in  its  pages  313-341,  with  fifteen 
views  and  maps,  as  a  part  of  the  chapter  on  Hennepin  county,  a 
very  interesting  historical  review  of  all  known  descriptions  and 
maps  of  the  Falls  of  St.  Anthony,  from  Hennepin  to  the  most 
recent  surveys. 

Other  important  contributions  to  the  geology  of  this  state 
have  been  made  by  the  United  States  Geological  Survey,  organ- 
ized in  1879,  most  notably  relating  to  its  Archean  rocks,  iron  ore 
ranges,  glacial  drift  deposits,  and  the  Glacial  Lake  Agassiz  in 
the  Red  river  valley.  Several  sheets  of  the  national  topographic 
map,  covering  small  parts  of  Minnesota,  have  been  surveyed  and 
published;  and  as  this  great  survey  is  continued,  it  will  ulti- 
mately comprise  a  detailed  topographic  map  of  all  our  area. 
Later  aH  the  sheets  constituting  the  map  will  be  colored  to  show 
the  geology,  both  of  the  bed  rocks  and  of  the  glacial  and  modi- 
fied drift. 

THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER   COMMISSION. 

A  most  elaborate  map  of  the  Mississippi  from  its  mouth 
to  the  city  of  Minneapolis,  at  the  head  of  navigation  as  now 
extended  by  the  recently  constructed  dams  and  locks  between  the 
mouth  of  Minnehaha  creek  and  that  city,  has  been  published  by 
the  Mississippi  River  Commission,  which  was  created  by  Con- 
gress in  1879.  Eighty-eight  double  folio  sheets  cover  the  dis- 
tance from  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio  river  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico, 
and  eighty-nine  sheets  extend  from  the  Ohio  to  Minneapolis. 
Soundings  of  the  river  are  shown  by  this  great  map  along  all  this 
course. 


388  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTUEIES. 

For  the  part  of  the  Mississippi  farther  northward  in  this 
state  the  reports  by  Gen.  G.  K.  Warren,  Major  Charles  J.  Allen, 
and  others  of  the  United  States  Engineer  Corps,  relating  to  the 
system  of  reservoirs  constructed  on  its  headwaters,  comprise 
most  valuable  descriptions  of  that  region. 

Lastly,  the  most  complete  history,  description,  and  carto- 
graphy of  Lake  Itasca,  and  of  the  Itasca  State  Park  there  es- 
tablished by  the  legislature  of  Minnesota  in  1891,  are  given  by 
the  late  Hon.  J.  V.  Brower  in  Volumes  VII  and  XI  of  the  Min- 
nesota Historical  Society  Collections,  respectively  published  in 
1893  and  1904,  each  profusely  illustrated  by  maps,  views  from 
photographs,  and  portraits.  Volume  XI  contains  a  photogra- 
phic reproduction  of  a  large  folio  map  of  the  Lake  Itasca  basin 
within  the  State  Park,  made  by  the  Mississippi  River  Commis- 
sion in  the  year  1900.  This  beautifully  wooded  park  at  the 
head  of  the  Mississippi  and  the  Interstate  Park  at  the  Dalles  of 
the  St.  CroLx,  adjoining  the  village  of  Taylor's  Falls,  with  its 
wonderful  "giants'  kettles,"  should  be  visited  by  every  Minne- 
Botan  who  loves  the  beauty  of  nature,  or  who  is  interested  in  the 
history  and  geology  of  our  state. 

COMPLETION  OF  EXPLORATIONS  IN  THREE  CENTUR- 
IES. 

What  the  Indians  owned,  we  white  people  now  own.  The 
forests  and  prairies,  streams  and  lakes,  which  the  red  man  knew 
and  loved,  have  been  all  searched  out  and  appropriated  by  the 
white  man  as  his  home. 

Indian  lore  passed  from  one  generation  to  another  by  tradi- 
tion. Our  progress  of  discoveries  and  explorations,  all  that  we 
have  learned  of  the  wealth  of  mine  and  quarry  and  soil,  every 
curve  of  the  great  river,  each  shining  lake  of  our  ten  thousand, 
are  recorded  in  books  and  maps. 

Each  band  or  little  group  of  the  Indians  knew  well  the 
trails,  canoe  routes,  portages,  favorite  hunting  grounds  and  fish- 
ing places,  of  their  own  district;  but  none  knew,  nor  had  they 
means  of  soon  learning,  all  the  geographic  features  of  our  en- 


LATER  EXPLORATIONS.  389 

tire  area.  What  the  white  man  found  he  wrote  down  or  map- 
ped ;  and  thus  gradually  from  the  times  of  Groseilliers  and  Radis- 
son,  and  of  Du  Luth  and  Hennepin,  through  all  the  series  of 
explorers  that  followed  them,  knowledge  of  the  country  has  in- 
creased. It  has  been  completed  by  the  United  States  land  sur- 
veys and  plats,  dividing  all  the  state  into  townships  and  sections, 
and  showing  locations  of  all  lakes  and  watercourses  crossed  by 
section  lines. 

The  part  of  Minnesota  first  surveyed  thus  by  the  United 
States  government  is  between  the  St.  Croix  and  Mississippi  rivers, 
from  Point  Douglas  north  to  include  the  present  Washington, 
Ramsey,  and  Anoka  counties,  with  the  southern  part  of  Chisago 
county.  The  surveys  of  the  range  and  township  lines  of  this 
tract  were  begun  in  1847  by  James  M.  Marsh  and  Henry  A. 
Wiltsie.  On  the  west  side  of  the  Mississippi  the  earliest  land 
surveys  in  Minnesota  were  in  its  southeast  part,  from  the  river 
west  to  the  third  guide  meridian,  which  passes  from  south  to 
north  by  Belle  Plaine,  to  intersect  the  Mississippi  near  Monti- 
cello.  The  parallels  and  meridians  forming  the  framework  of 
these  surveys  were  run  by  the  late  Hon.  Thomas  Simpson,  of 
Winona,  in  the  years  1853  to  1855.  During  sixty  years,  since 
1847,  the  government  sectional  surveys  of  this  state  have  been 
in  progress,  until  last  year  they  were  finished,  some  of  the 
northern  parts  being  the  last  surveyed  and  platted.  It  is  there- 
fore now  possible  to  draft  a  very  accurate  map  of  all  the  state. 

By  these  exact  surveys,  supplementing  the  work  of  the  many 
previous  discoverers,  geographic  exploration  of  this  area  is  com- 
pleted. Its  scenery,  climate,  animal  and  plant  life,  the  rock  for- 
mations, the  great  rivers  and  lakes,  have  been  well  described  in 
books,  magazine  articles,  and  publications  of  learned  societies, 
by  many  explorers,  travelers,  and  scientists.  Hundreds  of  these 
sources  of  information  about  this  state  are  gathered  in  the  li- 
braries of  the  Minnesota  Historical  Society,  of  the  University 
of  Minnesota,  and  of  our  other  universities  and  colleges,  as  also 
in  the  public  libraries  of  our  large  cities. 

If  the  present  volume,  recounting  successive  advances  of  ex- 
ploration and  description  since  1655,  shall  cause  all  its  readers 


390  MINNESOTA  IN  THREE  CENTURIES. 

to  feel  more  grateful  to  the  hardy  pioneer  men  and  women  who 
led  the  way  to  the  present  greatness  of  our  commonwealth,  and 
if  it  shall  cause  some  of  these  readers  to  search  further  into  this 
history  by  using  the  resources  of  our  great  libraries,  its  purpose 
and  desired  reward  will  be  attained. 


DATE  DUE 


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